


Learning Curve

by ClothesBeam



Category: Transformers: Prime
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Drama, Gen, Human OC - Freeform, Humour
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-08
Updated: 2015-05-03
Packaged: 2018-03-21 21:28:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 22,958
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3705317
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ClothesBeam/pseuds/ClothesBeam
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Thanks to a Scraplet infestation, the Autobots are unable to completely restore Optimus Prime's memories. Orion Pax is left to work out how to lead the Autobots to victory in the never-ending war on his own.<br/>Meanwhile, the Decepticons give "The Human Factor" a proper go and discover the true meaning of <strike>friendship</strike> Stockholm syndrome.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

_Vector Sigma, Cybertron_

“No!” Jack yelled as he raised his arms to protect his eyes from the bright flash. The screech of Scraplets gnawing through metal set his teeth on edge. He felt reverberations through his feet as something weighty and important-sounding fell.

Jack opened his eyes, dreading what he would see. Part of the gate to the Primes’ knowledge had fallen off. The lights were now only flashing through one half of it, and it looked like the download would not ever be able to be fully completed again.

His stomach dropped as he heard the terrifying screech of an Insecticon. Well, it was probably the best bait he could hope for down here…

“Hey! Why don’t you go chew on him?” he called, hesitantly picking up one of the little metal terrors. He lobbed it at the con, and thankfully the rest of the hive mind followed his lead.

The download finally came to an end and the bright string of data returned to the giant hole it had risen out of. The damaged key had trouble transforming back down, but it managed to get back to a size which Jack could realistically carry around.

He breathed a sigh of relief before turning to run outside. The place could come down on his head at any minute, and he had to find Arcee.

* * *

  _Decepticon Warship, Earth_

Orion Pax shakily made his way to the door, still staring at the guns his hands had transformed into in response to some hidden instinct. A part of him knew he shouldn’t shift back just yet, and he was too stunned from the fight to do so anyway.

He made his way down the corridor, very aware of the loud footsteps his large and unfamiliar frame made. He soon came to a control room from which he could activate the ground bridge. Only one con was inside, and Orion soon found one well-placed blast was enough to knock him aside. “I’m sorry, but if you’re as violent as your comrades I’m guessing you wouldn’t just stand there and let me open a bridge.”

The con groaned but didn’t move, deciding it wasn’t worth getting scrapped over.

He saw that the last used coordinates led underground, and that they had been used but five minutes ago. “Megatron,” he muttered, changing the coordinates at this end to the room he was in. He had only a few seconds to get by Soundwave.

He exited the ground bridge and felt it close behind him immediately. Megatron turned his head away from the spacebridge, undoubtedly listening to a warning from his communications expert.

Orion was glad his weapons were still out, and that he had regained his balance. He stepped forward slowly, but kept all traces of hesitance and fear to a minimum. “Megatron, I have had enough of your lies. I am joining the Autobot cause.”

As Megatron turned further away from the spacebridge, Ratchet took the chance to charge him from behind. The ease with which Megatron flung the medic across the cave confirmed he had made the right decision.

“Optimus!” Ratchet called, staggering back to his feet. “You’re back?”

“Not in the way you think, Ratchet,” he replied.

Megatron snorted and agreed by criticising his form. “Yes, and shooting the ceiling won’t do anyone much good.”

Orion lowered his arms from the stiff and defensive position they had been in since the conflict on the Nemesis. Megatron pointed his own cannon at him, but was tackled by the yellow Autobot before he could fire. A large green mech also jumped into the fray while Ratchet staggered over to him.

“Arcee, if you can hear me come through the spacebridge right now! Optimus is here waiting!”

The familiar sound of teleportation was heard from the spacebridge, and the sound of a two-wheeler’s engine filled the cavernous mineshaft. A native jumped off her back as she skidded in front of them. Arcee finished her sharp turn and rode at Megatron, who had already thrown the others off.

“Optimus!” the small native called, holding up an ancient Cybertronian artefact. Had he, then, chosen this one to retrieve the knowledge of the Primes? His chest plates reacted to the presence of the object and revealed his spark chamber, and what could only be the Matrix of Leadership.

Blue energy started transferring from the key to the matrix, and he started to remember. Memories of the one named Optimus came back to him. The native before him was an Earth boy called Jack, and the bots facing Megatron were what was left of his team. Bumblebee, Arcee, Bulkhead… And how could he have forgotten the present Ratchet, along with little Miko and Rafael?

After the light faded he could still feel there were significant gaps in his memory. Much of the wisdom of the Primes was gone. He still felt incredibly disconnected from Optimus Prime, if that was indeed who he had once been.

“Optimus?” Ratchet asked when he just stood there processing.

Jack sighed and looked away. “I’m sorry, Scraplets were eating the download device when I got there. I guess we couldn’t transfer everything with such faulty equipment.”

“You did what you could Jack, and it was more than enough,” Orion said, now noticing the difference between how he spoke now and how he had behaved as a Prime. No wonder the others were so worried. What would they all do without Optimus Prime? “I remember much of Optimus’ life and something of the more recent Primes, which is greater than what I had just moments ago.”

He levelled his weapon at Megatron now that he had the confidence to shoot without hitting the others. At least that much had been transferred. “Autobots!” he hesitated when his team looked back at him hopefully. “Fall back,” he called.

His brief falter had been noted by all of them.

Megatron frowned and simply watched them leave, processing deeply. Orion glanced back at him before following the others through their ground bridge. Megatron did not look amused.

* * *

_Decepticon Warship_

At his lord’s behest, Soundwave replayed the data he had picked up from Megatron’s optics across his faceplate again. “ _Autobots, fall back!”_

Megatron let out an incomprehensible exclamation of rage as he turned away sharply, clenching his fists. “That was not a Prime speaking! Orion Pax is not my sworn enemy!”

“ _Let us address the council together, brother,_ ” Soundwave played a memory from many millennia ago. They had all been involved in important historical events, and unlike Starscream he was legitimately interested in recording them for future generations.

“Yes,” Megatron replied gruffly. Soundwave was probably the only Decepticon on the ship able to identify that tone as embarrassment. “Orion Pax is neither fighter nor warmonger. We did not truly oppose each other until he accepted the matrix.”

“ _Peace?_ ” Soundwave displayed on his faceplate.

“He has the same ideals as the Primes, things will not change. I will have to stay off the frontlines until I have sorted myself out,” he admitted.

“ _Wise.”_

* * *

  _Autobot Base_

“And so, my friends, may I ask that you try to call me Orion?” he finished. The Autobots and humans surrounding him all glanced at each other. “I do not have enough of Optimus Prime’s memories to be him, so I would feel like a fraud if I answered to such a designation.”

“Well, whatever, I’ll try,” Miko said flippantly. “Might take us a while to remember though, right Bulk?”

He nodded while Bumblebee whirred his agreement.

“What is our next move?” he asked, looking to Ratchet.

The medic started, not expecting the sudden pressure of leadership at such a critical time. “I-I don’t know what Megatron told you, but I am not in charge around here.”

Orion hesitated before glancing down. “I apologise, but I am unsure of what should come next. While I was with the Decepticons, Megatron fooled me into deciphering Autobot codes to reveal coordinates. Perhaps we should be racing them to those destinations.”

“My only concern is, well, how much do you remember about fighting? Megatron will not let these three items escape his grasp if he can help it. I do not want you to be put in danger,” Ratchet replied.

A warning alarm beeped and the monitors flashed overhead. “The cons are on the move,” Arcee explained.

Agent Fowler sighed and Jack’s mother looked concerned.

“No time for deliberation, then. I will have to rely on my instincts and memory as I did during our last encounter with Megatron,” Orion decided as their ground bridge opened.

* * *

_Decepticon Warship: Bridge_

“The Spark Extractor?” Megatron hissed as he watched Soundwave’s display. Soundwave knew he was considering Knockout’s willingness to change sides at the first sign of trouble.

“Operation: retrieve Spark Extractor,” Soundwave spoke in the melodic harmonisation that he had not emitted in the presence of others for eons. Perhaps Orion’s presence was making him feel nostalgic. He opened a ground bridge behind them and stepped into it.

“Soundwave,” Megatron spoke, and he paused. “Do not put yourself at risk. Prime might use it, but Orion would never.”

He nodded before disappearing into the green energy field. He separated from Laserbeak before appearing on the other side. He glanced down at the native lifeform hyperventilating at his feet. It wasn’t one of the Autobots’, so he let it be.

“Stay back you fools, or we will all be destroyed!” Knockout yelled from the other side of the clearing. He was surrounded, and would never make it back to the ground bridge on his own. Unfortunately for him, Breakdown was otherwise engaged with Bulkhead.

Laserbeak sped toward the commotion, and thankfully Knockout was aware enough to let him snatch the spark extractor.

“Better keep your eye on the birdie!” he yelled as he transformed and weaved between Orion and Ratchet, the slowest of his aggressors.

Soundwave calmly took two steps to the side as their vain scientist leapt through the bridge. Laserbeak sped after him and Arcee was hot on his trail.

Learning from last time, Soundwave closed the bridge in her face.

“Soundwave?” Orion said cautiously, eyes fixed on the native at his feet. “You are outnumbered, don’t do anything drastic.”

Soundwave saw the simplest solution to his predicament. He picked up the human in one of his tentacles, ignoring the high pitched squeal it emitted. He transformed and fluidly deposited it in the small cockpit of his vehicle mode.

He took off, not having to worry about being followed or shot down. He reopened the bridge in mid-air and pulled up sharply upon crossing onto the Nemesis.

He casually changed back and placed the native on top of the computer terminal so it wouldn’t go squish. At least, not accidentally.

“Good work,” Megatron began, but changed his tune quickly. “What is _that_?”

“ _Hostage.”_

“Well, we hardly need it now. Get rid of it!”

“No!” it yelled, and Soundwave surmised from the pitch of its voice that it was probably female.

Megatron raised a brow, seemingly amused, and bent down to her level. “‘No’ what?”

“No, please don’t kill me?” she asked more quietly this time, intimidated.

“We do not take freeloaders like the Autobots. If you cannot make yourself useful, I see no point in expending any more Energon on the matter.”

“I can, I can, um…” She glanced around desperately. “Clean in and around nooks and crannies?”

Soundwave had to resist venting when Knockout actually looked interested in this suggestion.

“Well, really I’m a researcher in biological chemistry, but I’m sure your technology is far more advanced than anything I’ve worked with. Not to mention, biologically foreign in every way.” She sighed. “There must be something I can do though.”

“You’re not wrong,” Megatron said, quickly losing interest. “Get rid of it Knockout,” he seemed to notice the mech’s interest at last, “or look after it. Either way, it’s your responsibility.”

“As you command, Lord Megatron,” he said and bowed with a flourish before picking up the female human. Her limbs locked around his pointed fingers and she looked vaguely ill. Soundwave thought he should probably explain their squishy composition to him before something unnecessarily untoward happened.

“That should keep him entertained long enough to forget about this,” Megatron murmured as he took the Spark Extractor from Laserbeak.

Soundwave felt the usual twinge of relief when she reconnected to his body.

“The good doctor should be focussing on the Energon equation, at any rate.”

Soundwave nodded and went to move back to his usual position on the bridge.

“Fetch Breakdown won’t you?”

If he were any other con, he might have vented at this point. As it were, Soundwave continued walking as he opened a ground bridge between the clearing and the ship’s laboratory.

Soundwave connected to the camera in the room he had left Megatron in and watched him stroke the Spark Extractor. Unease shuddered through his systems and he walked down the hallway a little faster.

* * *

  _Decepticon Warship: Laboratory_

“Your scientific background is quite convenient,” Knockout explained jovially. If the others wanted to believe he had adopted the native because of vanity, then that was their prerogative. Not that it wasn’t a nice perk…

She glanced at him briefly before her eyes returned to the ground. From her point of view it would be quite distant, he supposed.

“I have a sample of synthetic Energon, but it is far too small to be used effectively in my lab equipment. After all, I have to improve upon it, not simply replicate it. But for something of your size, the sample has to be a good beaker-full!” he joked.

Her response was nothing more than an unenthusiastic mumble. When he put her down on his workbench, she immediately collapsed and began to inspire and expire rapidly. “What on Earth… is Energon?”

He laughed before realising she wasn’t making a joke. “Oh, of course you’re not in the know. You aren’t an Autobot human.

“Energon is what my species lives on, like the water on this planet is necessary for your survival. Unfortunately it is in very short supply here. However, some Autobot fools managed to make a prototype for synthetic stuff. Although it does have rather unpleasant side-effects on one’s mentality.”

“Whatever, I might as well play along until I wake up from this crazy dream.” She still looked unsure of herself.

“My dear, I am stunning but this is no dream!”

She tilted her head to the side and stared up at him. “Are you for real?”

“Didn’t we just establish that?!”

She jumped suddenly as the sound of a ground bridge opening came from behind him. “There you are, you big lug!” Knockout said affectionately as Breakdown stood next to him. “We have a new assistant. What is your designation again?”

“I, oh… Viviana. Doctor, for what it’s worth.”

He shrugged. “As you probably picked up before, _Doctor_ Knockout. And this is my assistant, Breakdown. Now, I expect we will all get along together. We will just have to get Soundwave to, uh, ‘procure’ you some tools.”

“Or we could go to my lab?” she suggested. The sooner she got out of this place, the sooner she could work toward freedom.

Also realising this, Knockout simply grinned. “No, no, I like the idea of stealing currency for something so trivial much better!”


	2. Chapter 2

_Unknown Mountainous Terrain, Earth_

Orion heaved himself over the cliff with Bumblebee's assistance, while Arcee scouted ahead. His frame was strong enough, but his mind still wasn’t used to these kinds of action-oriented tasks. Ratchet wasn’t built for this at all, so he had had to be the one to go.

They saw Breakdown working to get a golden hammer out of the snowy mountain. “The Forge of Solus Prime!” he muttered, and Bumblebee glanced at him quizzically. “An ancient artefact with which we can create anything.”

“Then that’s not something we can afford to let Megatron get his hands on,” Arcee replied over their comm. She transformed and sped ahead.

Bulkhead lumbered after her, unable to pass up a battle with his rival. Bumblebee hesitated before deciding to stick to Orion’s side.

Breakdown had finally noticed their presence. He swore and began hammering more desperately. A ground bridge opened behind him and Megatron walked out carrying what appeared to be a pointed stick.

Orion only recognised the shape _after_ the Energon shield had separated him and Bumblebee from Arcee and Bulkhead. The big green mech dived at Breakdown, while Arcee bravely moved to take on Megatron.

Orion winced as she was immediately flung into the side of the mountain. “Hurry up Breakdown,” Megatron called.

“Megatron!” Orion said, but found he was being completely ignored.

Bulkhead grabbed the hammer and managed to pull it free from the last of the rocks.

“Thank you for your assistance, Autobots,” Megatron said smugly, retreating to Bulkhead’s position slowly and carefully. Breakdown recovered and his leader dropped the shield just long enough for him to knock Bulkhead into his allies, but not before prying the forge from his grasp.

The ground bridge opened and closed before any of the Autobots could recover. Bumblebee whirred his despair while Orion moved forward to check on Arcee. “Ratchet, we need a bridge back.”

Arcee sighed and sat up when he approached. “That’s 3 out of 3 for the cons. What are we going to do?” Bumblebee supported her as they moved through their own bridge.

“I’m afraid this is my fault.”

“Don’t say that Op- Orion,” Arcee quickly corrected herself.

Ratchet closed the bridge behind them and joined the conversation. “Perhaps we are going about this the wrong way now that our team’s balance has changed. Maybe it’s time we looked at infiltrating the Nemesis.”

“What, so we can fight Soundwave instead?” Arcee snarked.

“Well, we have two small and quiet types, a specialised information processor, and our very own technological genius,” he said, indicating Raf. He had stood up against Soundwave on multiple occasions. “To keep repeating what isn’t working would only be madness.”

Arcee nodded slowly as she processed the idea further. “What’s the plan, then?”

* * *

 

_Decepticon Warship: Laboratory_

It had been nearly three days since Viviana had boarded what she now knew was a giant warship called the Nemesis. She had been working without adequate food or rest the whole time, but was too afraid to seriously complain to anyone.

She breathed a sigh of relief as she finalised the molecular model for SynthEn, as they had started calling it. Knockout was at the giant terminal across the room, researching how to interpret it on the internet. Apparently the system and language used for this kind of thing was quite different on Cybertron.

“Oh!” he exclaimed at last. “Of course, that makes perfect sense!”

“Good,” she replied with a sigh. “Does that mean I can get fed something other than raw cabbage now? And you guys seriously need to get me a toilet.”

“Just be glad Soundwave advised me against ‘collecting’ hay for you,” he replied mischievously. “But I should be able to replicate enough of this to experiment with indefinitely.”

“Does that mean I can go home?”

Her phone vibrated. She frowned because there was no signal on board this ship. She had already tried calling the authorities, of course. She checked her messages and found one from a sender simply labelled ‘Soundwave’.

_“You will not leave until we are ready to return to a restored Cybertron. However, Megatron has permitted a reward for your efficiency. Come to the bridge.”_

“What?” Knockout complained, also privy to her message, it seemed. “I never get rewarded for my medical discoveries! Megatron must be in a good mood.” He leaned over and let her climb on his hand. They had established her discomfort with being grabbed suddenly quite quickly.

They entered the bridge as instructed, and Viviana was let down on the panel in front of Soundwave’s workstation. She was careful to avoid pressing any buttons on the holographic keyboard. She looked at her phone again.

_“More adequate sustenance will be provided. Order what you need through your ‘phone’ and the rest will be taken care of. You are also entitled to a reward for your service.”_

“Can I go outside for a while?” she asked, glancing at the satellite view displayed on the screen. She hadn’t even looked out a window since she got here! “I need vitamin D, which my body creates in reaction to sunlight,” she explained in a way the bot might care about.

It took a moment longer for him to reply than usual. He was probably checking the fact. _“Noted. You may go with Knockout for pick up, but I will continue disabling your signal.”_

This would make things a little more difficult…

“I also want something to do other than science and more science. Can we swing by my place and pick up my violin?” she asked hopefully.

Images of various stringed instruments flickered across the bot’s faceplate before he settled on a violin and bow. _“Permission granted_. _Knockout, commence Operation: Retrieval._ ”

She smiled, but felt uneasy. She had one chance to _not_ mess this up. Why couldn’t she have run into an Autobot first like those lucky children Knockout kept referencing?

 _Commence Operation: Escape the Decepticons,_ she thought as she was placed on the ground.

Knockout transformed and opened his passenger door. “Come along then!”

* * *

 

_Autobot Base_

Orion’s fingers flew over the keyboard. Their size had made typing difficult at first, but he was getting used to this large battle-ready frame. He transferred data from his inner files into the computer. One was a decrypted map of the Nemesis.

Rafael was working on the same page as him through his human-sized computer. “Wow, look at all this stuff you kept!” he said, trawling through the data. “You even have patrol schedules for the next three weeks.”

“It is in my nature to record, order, compile… or at least it was before I became a Prime. I think I already have the beginnings of a plan, but we should consider every scrap of information we have access to.”

“Yeah!” Raf nodded enthusiastically, keen to take on the challenge. Orion smiled gently, still amazed that lifeforms so alien could be so similar to them. To him.

Later that evening, even after Raf had to return home, they maintained their remote connection to each other’s screens as they worked through the night. Eventually Raf stopped responding and Orion guessed he had fallen into recharge for the night. He compiled an organised list of notes for the boy to review when he woke.

By the time everyone had assembled again in the base the next afternoon, he had negated the Nemesis’ shielding so that they could track its coordinates as it moved across the sky. They had their way in, now they just needed a way to find the relics and access their data.

He was narrowing down which rooms they would have to access as Ratchet came to stand beside him. “This is amazing Optimus!”

He smiled slightly and continued working. He was too close to get distracted by the misnomer. Besides, he had given up on trying to get Ratchet to address him as anything else, and he didn’t really mind as long as the ‘Prime’ wasn’t attached.

“It’s time to bring everything together,” he said at last. “We will be taking a risk because all of us will need to be on board the ship at the same time, including Miko and Jack.”

“Yes!” Miko cheered. “Best plan ever!”

“Rafael will remain here to operate the ground bridge, help coordinate the teams if necessary, and most importantly to distract Soundwave. I presume the viruses we discussed are ready to be deployed?”

“Yes sir!” Raf replied with a grin.

“Excellent,” he said and returned the smile. “Arcee and Ratchet are Team A. Bumblebee and Bulkhead are Team B,” Bumblebee trilled his amusement at the names. “Team C will be Miko, Jack and I. Rafael will be supporting us the most.”

“You should be Team O,” Bulkhead said with a chuckle and Arcee rolled her optics.

“Team O is the weakest link due to our lack of fighters,” Orion continued, not really caring either way. “We will be dropped straight into the room I was left in to complete my work. Rafael will begin distracting Soundwave while I start downloading from their database. Jack and Miko will be in charge of sabotage.”

“Oooh, exciting!” Miko whispered loudly, all but bouncing on her toes. “We gonna be packing explosives or what?”

Orion shook his head. “You two are small enough to access the ports Soundwave usually uses his extra appendages for. I have discovered there is quite a lot you can muck up by just pushing buttons at random. The room we will be in for the mission has several of these ports.”

Miko looked a little disappointed, but she was just glad to be included on such an important mission. “Team A will focus on checking the starboard rooms, while Team B will be looking at portside. It is vital that you stay undetected for as long as possible. Please take cues from the scout team leaders,” he said, nodding at Arcee and Bumblebee.

“Ratchet will be able to move from Arcee’s side should worse come to worst for another team. Your top priority is ensuring the safety of our medic, Arcee. Even if it means giving up a relic or slowing down the search.” Given what he remembered about Arcee’s temperament, it seemed this was a necessary thing to remind her of.

“Similarly, Bulkhead will be able to reach Team C easily if required, as long as you two stay on the path I am going to give you,” he added. “We cannot afford to split up entirely, and our top priority should remain getting everyone off the ship in one piece. Living to fight another day is more important. The data itself will be enough to justify the trip.”

When no one spoke, he continued. “Take some time to memorise the maps, movement paths and ideal timing I’m about to send through. Please ask any questions as they arise. We will commence the operation in one Earth hour.”

“All right, Soundwave is going to regret messing with us!” Miko exclaimed as the Autobots dispersed into teams and looked over their data together.

Lastly, Orion contacted Agent Fowler and informed him of the plan and where it was likely to take place if the Nemesis stayed on course. There was a brief silence on the other end of the line.

“Thank you for being considerate. I have permission to give you air support, should you require it.”

“Thank you Agent Fowler, please stand by.”

Orion finally let the tension fall from his frame. The speech had made him nervous, and he’d been expecting these professional soldiers to tell him his plan was ridiculous. But so far, they had taken him seriously.

He only hoped he was making the right decisions.

* * *

_Viviana’s Residence_

Knockout pulled up smoothly outside the university’s accommodation for visiting academics. Even though it was dark out, he kept his headlights turned off.

Glancing up at the balconies, it seemed her room had been cordoned off by police. “Well then, looks like I’ll have to head up there alone,” she said, pulling on the door handle.

Predictably, it didn’t budge.

“I think not,” he replied. He transformed and lifted her to the second floor. “Grab what you need then come straight back. Laserbeak is on stand by,” he warned.

She glared at him, trying to decide whether the con was trying to con her. She leaped off his hand and landed on the balcony. The room beyond was empty, and thankfully she soon found the door had been left unlocked.

She picked up her violin case and music books before coming to a halt. Maybe she couldn’t run right now, but she could leave a message for the authorities. Surely some government department or other already knew about the giant transforming robots from outer space?

She quickly moved into her office, which could not be seen from the window. Viviana pulled a piece of paper and pen off her desk and quickly scribbled something while she was still out of Knockout’s line of sight.

_“This is Doctor Viviana Cremaschi. I realise I sound crazy, but this message needs to get to the FBI. I have been kidnapped by giant transforming alien robots called Decepticons. My mobile phone is still in my possession, but the signal is being blocked. Please send help!”_

She signed and dated the note for good measure, before running a hand through her ponytail. She extracted a few loose hairs before scattering them across the note, then left her fingerprint-covered pen as well. The government had her DNA in their records from when she had to get a top level security clearance for one of her research projects.

She stopped in the bathroom to grab a hairbrush, toothbrush and paste, and moisturiser before she ran back to the bedroom and out onto the balcony. Knockout stared at her suspiciously, but held out his hand without further comment. “What? You have your wax and buffer, I have this stuff.”

He transformed and they took off with a screech. “And people call me high-maintenance,” he scoffed.

“Hmph, I would’ve liked to stop for a real shower,” she grumbled. Knockout remained silent until they pulled out onto the highway.

“Look, I don’t care if you want to escape the Decepticons. I only care if you do it on my watch and get me into trouble.” Viviana made herself look smaller, not sure how or whether he could see what she was doing. “Megatron is rather brutal when it comes to disciplining his soldiers.”

Viviana gently put a hand on his steering wheel. “I’ll try to avoid that then.”

Knockout produced some static before adopting his usual tone and changing the subject. “Next stop, online sustenance order warehouse!”

“Please tell me I’m getting a toilet and shower soon. I can only pee in zip lock bags for so much longer.”

“You have got to be the fussiest pet ever!”

“I’m not a pet!” she protested, bringing her fist down on the steering wheel this time. She accidentally caused his horn to sound, and the person driving in front of them glared into their rear-view mirror.

Knockout laughed loudly before honking his horn more and suddenly switching lanes so he could really take off.

Viviana laughed too and looked into the driver’s window as they passed. The middle-aged black man’s eyes scanned Knockout with a look of horror on his face. She watched him speak into a mobile desperately. Her smile faded as they briefly made eye contact.

Knockout didn’t seem to notice, only focussed on going as fast as he possibly could down the mostly empty highway.


	3. Chapter 3

_The Nemesis, Data Room_

Miko rubbed her hands together, looking at all the buttons and switches ready to be pushed. She raised her hands dramatically and wriggled her fingers in anticipation.

“Not yet,” Orion said before comming the base. “Team O infiltration successful. Rafael, begin distraction protocols and send in remaining teams.”

“I’m on it,” he replied, then laughed shortly after. “Well, that got Soundwave’s attention all right. Sending in stealth teams… now!”

“Miko, Jack, begin your sabotage.”

“Sorry to interrupt the party,” Agent Fowler came through, sounding panicky. “But I’ve got a con on my rear. The plan was leaked!”

“Impossible,” Orion replied as Miko giggled quietly but gleefully and began shoving all the buttons she could reach. Some of them were difficult for humans to move without the strength of a machine, but she had already set off multiple alarms.

“And they call Unicron the chaos bringer,” Orion muttered before returning to the conversation. “I do not believe that is the case Agent. We have breached successfully.”

“Hmm,” he said, then added, “maybe you’re right. He just sped off without me. The only thing that concerns me is that there was a young lady in that car.”

Jack went about his panel a little more reservedly, keeping his phone at his ear so he could listen in.

“We will have to look into that at another time, Agent. Are you nearly at the army base?”

“Yeah, hope I don’t hear from you later,” he said before hanging up and leaving the lines less crowded.

“Orion, Megatron is moving toward your position,” Raf said with a hint of fear in his voice. “I’m going to try and mess with the autopilot programming next, so you might all want to find something to hold onto.”

Now that they could see through the Nemesis’ shielding, all of the Decepticon life signals were visible to Raf. Unfortunately this worked both ways, given there was no Autobot base shielding either.

“Team A, status?” Orion requested. Megatron would pass them before he reached the Data Room, but he also guessed the tyrant would be more interested in confronting him than them.

“Just hanging out in a storage closet avoiding Megatron,” Arcee muttered. “Oh calm down, Ratchet. He’ll hear your knees clanking at this rate.”

“Hem-hem, hiding is just a little nerve-wracking…”

“Megatron is still on a beeline for the Data Room, you guys should be able to move up now,” Raf added.

Orion heard a door open and close as they followed Raf’s advice and moved into another room. “Payload!” Arcee whispered triumphantly. “What kind of dunce keeps all their relics in the same place?”

Orion vented his relief. “Switch priority to obtaining relics and extracting before Megatron learns where you are. Team B, status?”

“ _Team Bee is undetected,”_ Bumblebee buzzed as quietly as he could. _“Want us to move to your position?”_

“Yes, this data is too valuable to abandon now. Don’t put yourselves in danger, but try to buy me some time.”

 _“Team Bee is on the job,”_ he replied, and Bulkhead grumbled something about changing their name.

“Um, guys, Soundwave has noticed the relics have left the ship. Megatron has picked up his pace,” Raf transmitted with some trepidation. “He’s blocking me from the ship controls, and the panels Miko and Jack are at aren’t connected to those.”

Orion deliberated with some panic. Should he pull out now and abandon the data? Was it worth the risk?

“Team B has found the refuelling centre, we’re going to distract Megatron by sabotaging it,” Bulkhead updated them.

Then they still had time, Orion decided. “Rafael, bridge out Jack and Miko. Then call in Agent Fowler’s squad, but only for one pass. They don’t need to be targeted by Seekers.”

“Got it,” Raf said. “Oh, what’s going on? I think Soundwave is messing with my equipment because I can see five Starscreams on the ship.” He paused for a little longer. “No, Soundwave would be more subtle than that. I can also see a hundred or so Insecticons approaching!”

There was terrible screech, echoed by the harmonics characteristic of Soundwave’s communication. All any of them could hear through the comm now was static.

“No,” Orion murmured. Back to square one again. What should he _do_?

He copied the remaining coordinates and decided that would have to be the end of the mission. The terminal blew up in his face a second later, and Soundwave had decided for him anyway.

A ground bridge opened and Jack and Miko ran for it, Orion moving after them as soon as they had cleared out. He didn’t want to accidentally step on one of them with an oversized pede.

“Rafael!” he said as soon as they appeared on the other side. “Bridge back Bumblebee and Bulkhead before Soundwave updates their cloaking! Agent Fowler, cancel that airstrike!”

“I see our work has been done for us,” he joked. “Returning to base.”

Raf typed desperately and Bumblebee and Bulkhead soon joined them. “In true Wrecker style!” Bulkhead yelled, fist-bumping Bumblebee. “The Nemesis should be grounded for quite some time.”

Orion relaxed now that his entire team was back to safety. Raf groaned in disappointment as the life signals disappeared from their map again. All he could see was the edges of the swarm of Insecticons.

“Hey, don’t worry about it,” Arcee said as she held up the Spark Extractor and the Energon Shield. “We have these now.” Ratchet leant the forge of Solus Prime against the wall. “But still, permission to try and eradicate Airachnid?”

“Thankfully Megatron does not have the Spark Extractor anymore,” Orion began, “Not to mention, they shouldn’t be moving very far for quite some time. But I think you're right Arcee, the battle isn’t quite over. Ratchet, bridge us to Airachnid’s current position.”

“Orion, I don’t think you should come,” Arcee said, folding her arms. “Airachnid has wiped out enough bots in her time. The team doesn’t need you to be one of them.”

“O-oh,” Orion replied, having to remind his hurt feelings that Arcee was always frank.

Bumblebee patted his elbow, since reaching up to his shoulder would have made the action unnatural. “ _Don’t worry Pax, leave it to the professionals. You should do what you do best.”_

“All right then, I will begin decoding the coordinates I downloaded,” he agreed, and they parted ways.

* * *

_Nemesis Ruins_

“AUTOBOTS!” was the first thing Viviana and Knockout heard as they boarded the ship through the portal. It seemed Megatron was not amused by whatever they had done now.

Knockout pulled up near his central workbench before realising the familiar hum of engines was not under his wheels. “Oh dear…”

“How did this happen Soundwave? All three of the artefacts are GONE! As well as the coded coordinates for THE REST of them!”

“I seriously missed being rescued in an Autobot invasion?” Viviana groaned as quietly as possible.

“Given Lord Megatron’s current mood, even I feel a little like that,” Knockout agreed, glad that Soundwave had transported them straight to the lab instead of onto the bridge where Megatron was raging right now.

“I will not underestimate you again, Orion Pax!”

“Oh, I see,” Knockout murmured as he opened his door, “touchy subject. We’d better get straight back to work. You can recharge and refuel later.”

He transformed and placed the load that had been in his boot in what was now Viviana’s corner. “We’ll ask Soundwave to set up a power outlet for your devices, er, shortly,” he said, glancing over his shoulder worriedly. He pulled out a sample of synthetic Energon and set up his sanitised lab equipment.

“Hmm,” he murmured as he picked up a dirty petri dish. “Have you seen Breakd-?” He was cut off by another bridge opening, and Dreadwing and Breakdown stumbling through.

“Right… here…” he groaned.

“What on this filthy planet happened to you?” he demanded before immediately asking, “Where does it hurt the most?”

Breakdown shifted his hand so that the slice through his gut and chest became visible. “It’s only thanks to Dreadwing that I’m even in one piece, fragging Airachnid…”

Megatron’s yelling finally stopped as he stomped into another part of the ship. Soundwave entered the lab shortly afterwards. He nodded at the cons before approaching Viviana in her corner. Her phone vibrated, and she noticed the battery said it was charging.

The message said, _“Wireless charging has been set up for all of your devices as long as you are on the Nemesis.”_

“Oh, uh, thank you,” she replied, not knowing how to respond.

_“You will both need to work quickly. The workers will install the other amenities necessary for your health in due course. We need synthetic Energon production yesterday.”_

Viviana laughed hesitantly at what she thought was a joke as Soundwave left to attend whatever other business he had. A lot, from the sound of recent events.

“Humph, easy for him to say! He doesn’t have Megatron up his exhaust pipes…” Knockout trailed off. “Come on imbecile, I’ll patch you up.”

The three cons moved across the room, and Dreadwing helped strap Breakdown to the medical table. Knockout poked and prodded for a few moments before yelling in shock. "Why are half your organs missing? How are you still _functioning?_ "

Dreadwing glanced to the side guiltily. "I had to deal with Airachnid before I could return to him. It seems that was enough time for those opportunistic scavengers."

Knockout shook his head in disbelief. “At any rate, I need to clean this out before I can do anything. Viviana, come here.”

She put down the protective equipment she had been about to use to handle the SynthEn before complying. “What is it?”

He picked her up and tried to place her on Breakdown’s chest, but he flinched away. “Keep that _thing_ away from me!”

“Hmph, ruuude!” she complained, not realising how much she sounded like Knockout.

Knockout rolled his eyes, but didn’t put her down yet. “This isn’t MECH, Breakdown. It’ll be fine. She’s the only one with small enough servos to clean your injuries without exacerbating them.”

“MECH?” she asked. “As in M-E-C-H and psycho Sylas?”

“How do you know?” Knockout demanded as Breakdown flinched away again.

“Um, they sponsored my doctorate research?” she said with more of a questioning tone while three giant angry robots glared down at her suspiciously. “Why, what did they do?” she asked in a small voice.

“They tore Breakdown apart and made him watch! What did you do for them?”

“W-what? I just looked at the theory of isolating and temporarily blocking synapses responsible for causing pain. That was over a year ago though!”

Breakdown started before hissing from his injuries. “So it was your research that let them do that!?”

“Oh calm down you big oaf!” Knockout said crossly. “Her research meant you didn’t feel it. Now stop being ridiculous and let her clean the wound before you bleed out in my med bay.”

He glared down at her, waiting. “What? I thought it would be used by field medics and emergency response teams! I didn’t know it was even applicable to robots,” she said before taking the scrap of cloth Knockout handed her.

“I don’t know how your fleshy plating will handle this corrosive substance, so be careful,” Knockout warned.

“Yep, we’re just the model of lab safety up here,” she muttered, wishing she had kept her gloves and safety glasses. She dipped a corner of the rag in the giant jar of solvent Knockout proffered before turning to the ugly open wound in Breakdown’s chest. “This might, uh, sting a little?” she sought confirmation, not really knowing how it would affect him at all.

“He knows what it feels like,” Knockout said dismissively, not seeming to understand why she had said it.

“Oh, of course,” she said as she began rubbing the cleanser inside his scar. He hissed, but knew better than to actually move. “Nurse Breakdown is a pro at this huh?”

A smile peeked through his grimace at this one. “You’re right, I’m basically qualified to be a nurse.” He looked at Knockout. “Start introducing me as Nurse Breakdown.”

“Would you stop putting ridiculous ideas into that empty skull,” he said to Viviana, reaching out for what must have been a welding device.

Knockout inspected Viviana’s work as she went along. “Good job, maybe you can take over as medic instead? I do like tearing things apart rather more.”

Viviana shook her head as she finished on the nastiest looking cut. “I get the feeling my size would slow me down a little.”

“Well, isn’t that what Breakdown is for?” He shifted her so she could start working on his arm next. He activated the flame of the welder.

“Whoa wait a minute, you can’t do that while I’m so close. I’ll go blind!”

“Fine,” he sighed and put her on the floor. “Don’t go too far.” He started welding at the injury as Viviana turned her back.

He gave her the ok a short time later as he started drilling plates into him. At her horrified face he explained, “If his torso is ever going to return to its former glory, the parts need to be lined up when the regrowing process begins. But I don't want the regrowth to get too enthusiastic until we retrieve the rest of his organs.”

“Your metal regrows? Freaky,” she replied, wondering if the SynthEn mystery would be solved more easily if she only knew more about Cybertronian biology. "Too bad your paint job doesn't do the same thing."

Before Knockout could retort, the ship shook and the lights glowed purple over their heads. The engines sounded like they had started up again. “This is not normal,” Knockout muttered. “Come back here,” he said sharply, offering his hand.

She quickly climbed on as he tightened the final screw.

“Be careful Breakdown,” he added when the large con started to stand up. “You’re still Energon deficient and almost falling apart.”

They slowly moved back to the bridge so that he could keep up. As they went, they received a text message sent out to all personnel. _“Dark Energon powering ship.”_

“What? That is how Lord Megatron is fixing…” Knockout trailed off as they entered the room.

“Do not interfere!” a deep voice echoed around them.

“Is that… the ship?” one of the minions asked.

“YES!” it replied, and sent a shock through Soundwave, who had been connected to the console. He twitched a few times before becoming as limp as a bot could. She guessed he had shut down.

“No Soundwave on a sentient ship that seems to hate us?” Breakdown rumbled nervously.

“Well, it seems to be doing a better job than us at decoding the coordinates,” Knockout noted, pointing out something else written in Cybertronian.

Megatron growled at him and Knockout took a few slow steps back. “All units! Disconnect the ship from its power core at any cost!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I didn’t want Breakdown to die in the show, so he wasn’t killed by Airachnid in this story. So uh, there is some plot relevance for this decision, but not a lot…
> 
> And wow, this fic has so much love. Thanks all!


	4. Chapter 4

_Dark Energon Powered Nemesis_

They left the bridge quickly, Knockout taking Viviana one way while Breakdown and Dreadwing went the other. He put Viviana down when they came to another console. “After what happened to Soundwave, I can’t have you touching the computers. Stay down there next to my ‘toes’,” he said as he turned his attention to the screen. “A second set of coordinates already? Lord Megatron, I think we should permit the ship to…”

He was cut off as a wave of electricity ran across his frame and he slumped forward. Viviana cringed, but thankfully he fell onto the console rather than her. She pulled out her phone, wondering if she could get Soundwave to wake up somehow.

"I do not need anyone's permission!"

She glanced around cautiously, but the ship didn't seem to have noticed her. She patted Knockout’s shin reassuringly before running back into the hallway. Her phone twitched in her hand and the screen glowed purple. She gasped and threw it away. It skittered across the ground and sprouted legs from _somewhere_ before using them to run toward her.

The automatic door slid shut behind her, trapping her near the creature. This time she did let out a scream.

A large silver foot landed in front of her, crushing the thing to pieces. She glanced up as Megatron shook his leg, as though trying to get dung off his foot.

She slid down the door and breathed out forcefully. “Thank you.”

He raised a brow at her expectantly.

“ _Lord_ Megatron,” she grudgingly added the title.

“I get the distinct feeling that the ship is not currently looking for carbon-based lifeforms. I am heading for the engine room to attempt to remove the Dark Energon. Should I fail, you will be the last line of defence.” He didn’t seem very pleased with this, and Viviana couldn’t blame him. “But do keep in mind that the ship will eventually expand its search parameters.”

“Yes, all right, I understand,” she replied. “I won’t leave you here to rot. Decepticon promise.”

“That’s reassuring,” he replied with a roll of his eyes as he bent down so she could climb onto his hand. She snorted at his comment.

“You set the precedent, lordship,” she replied, careful not to make the title sound like a joke. Though to her, it was.

He sprinted down the hallway, pushing aside immobilised cons as needed. Viviana held tightly to the claws caging her as his arm swung back and forth with each stride. She clamped a hand over her mouth in an attempt to keep the puke down.

They entered what must have been the main engine room, and she weakly tottered off his hand and onto the console as he reached out with his other to pull the lever. Viviana guessed this was how they were going to get the Dark Energon out.

“Watch out!” she called as the same structure that had shot Knockout formed out of the wall. But the thing was faster than Megatron, and he was frozen before her.

“Crap, crap, crap!” she hissed, kicking at his knuckles in an attempt to get it to move just a little bit more. Of course it didn’t budge. _Now what!?_

Footsteps echoed off the metallic floor and she looked down to find three kids staring back. “That must be her!” the young boy said triumphantly.

The girl with the crazy hairstyle jumped up and down enthusiastically, “Rock on! Let’s get you out of here lady!”

“We’d better stop the ship from trying to attack New York first,” the oldest boy said, scanning their surroundings.

“What’s your name? Why are you here?” The girl gasped and her tone turned accusing. “Are you Megatron’s human?”

Suddenly it clicked. “Oh, you’re the Autobot children I’ve heard so much about. As much as I’d like to go with you, I don’t think this is such a good time. Megatron won’t blame himself for my escape, so undoubtedly Knockout will take the fall.”

The children glanced at each other. “Uhh, so what?” the talkative girl asked, not seeming to mind that her questions had been ignored.

She sighed, having to remind herself that they were just kids, and they probably didn’t know the whole story. “Look, let’s get rid of the Dark Energon and then see how much time we have left before everyone wakes up. Can one of you get up here?”

The older boy nodded, scaling Megatron’s leg like a pro. Together they somehow managed to tip Megatron’s weight just enough to let him finish his fall and pull the switch.

“N-no, must refuel!” the ship had difficulty saying. But thankfully, the claw that picked up the Energon cubes came to a halting stop before it could do anything. The purple faded from the lights and she sighed with relief.

Her relief quickly became panic as Megatron began to stir.

“Get out of here!” she yelled as he glared up at them.

The boy had his phone out. “Stage 2 of the mission complete, working on stages 1 and 3. Some bot help would be appreciated right now!” he yelled before sliding down the wall of the terminal. He grunted when he hit the ground. “Hurry up!” he called, waving for her follow.

She hesitated as Megatron sat up. He still looked a bit woozy, but she knew better than to assume that meant they would be safe.

“I would think carefully before you decide on a side,” he hissed.

She shook her head and stayed where she was. “Just go, you little idiots!” she shouted. If they thought she was terrible, maybe they wouldn’t be back for a while.

“C’mon Jack, the Decepticreeps are waking up! If she wants to stay here, then let her!” the girl implored, and they all headed out now that Megatron was getting back to his feet.

The youngest of the trio glanced back before they rounded the corner. He was the only one that saw the anguish on her face.

“I must say, I am rather surprised,” Megatron began.

“Shut up!” she replied, turning away sharply. “I’m on my own side, and it just so happens that I need to be on this warship right now!”

To her surprise she didn’t get squished right there. Megatron just laughed loudly. “Another Starscream eh? Who knew such bottom feeders existed across all species?”

“Bottom feeder? You are the worst of the worst!” She forced her mouth out of a snarl when he just continued to look amused in that freaky way he had. “Don’t you have some Autobutts to stop?” she asked, unable to resist after hearing the girl’s slur for the Decepticons.

“They have already robbed me blind,” he said, lying his hand flat next to her. “And thanks to the ship, we have the next lot of coordinates.”

She glanced at his hand warily, wondering if he was going to clench it into a fist as soon as she got on. No, if he was going to squish her, he would have done it already. She got on and they returned to the bridge at a sedate pace, watching the others wake up.

“Despite your protests, this has something more to do with the fact I saved you, doesn’t it?”

“I saved you too, remember?” she retorted.

The following silence was the most worrying thing she had heard all day.

“Soundwave,” he said, upon entering the bridge and seeing the con was fully functional again. “Our pet needs a new tracking device.”

Viviana clenched her fists and held back her vitriolic response.

Megatron dumped her at Soundwave’s console and moved to inspect the rest of his ship.

* * *

_Antarctica_

“Have you located the signal yet?” Ratchet asked over the comm as Orion trudged through the snow. Temperatures weren’t low enough to seize up his systems, but it wasn’t exactly comfortable, either.

“I am unsure, but it appears to be coming from a human facility. Is there a way to get them to leave?”

“Yes, Agent Fowler is on it.”

Orion waited patiently, spotting some movement outside. A short time later a few helicopters took off and he presumed that meant it was all right to proceed.

He entered the warehouse and knelt before the shelving the signal was emitting from. The relic container was sitting on its own near typical human eye-level. They would notice it was gone, but he couldn’t help that.

He glanced over his shoulder at the sound of Cybertronian-sized footsteps, only to find Dreadwing behind him. He fumbled with the shield, but managed to activate it before he could step inside the warehouse.

It expanded to fill the doorway, blocking out his aggressor, for now at least.

“Surrender yourself and the relics immediately Orion Pax, and no one needs to get hurt,” Dreadwing stated calmly, aiming his cannon at him despite the barrier.

He flinched as the wall to his right exploded and a Seeker ran inside. The grey bot reached for the container. Orion reached around awkwardly and managed to grab his leg before he could flee through the entrance he had created.

Starscream struggled and swore. “Release me at once!”

The strength of his new frame surprised him again. This task was easy.

When he noticed Dreadwing was out of sight again, Orion expanded the shield horizontally so that he could not use the same entrance. Starscream began trying to get the lid off the pod at the same time Dreadwing blasted another entrance from behind them.

“I’m packing my own firepower,” he reminded as he slowly stepped into the room.

Before he could swing the shield around, the new relic started transforming to cover Starscream’s body. It violently slammed into his hand, forcing him to let go.

He deactivated the shield and rolled out of the confines of the warehouse. He changed back to bipedal mode just in time to be punched in the faceplate by Starscream and the Apex Armour.

“Oh, what a find, Prime! I’ve been looking forward to this!” He made the oddly human motion of cracking his knuckles before pulling his fist back again.

“My designation is Orion Pax,” he reminded, using the shield to push the Seeker back into Dreadwing.

“Orion,” Ratchet said quietly, almost sounding guilty for not bothering to call him by his preferred designation earlier. “You’ve done what you can. Just let Starscream take it before you get hurt or lose the shield. He won’t hesitate to end your life.”

Orion felt frustrated with himself. He couldn’t fight. He couldn’t help his friends. And everyone else was working so hard. “Send me a ground bridge Ratchet,” he agreed, letting the two cons fight it out. He retreated before either of them had noticed he was leaving.

Once through the ground bridge, he moved swiftly to put the shield back in its storage space. But Ratchet’s servo landed on his arm before he could get very far.

“Orion, it’s all right. Your last mission was a rousing success, but not all of them can be like that. We have not moved backward, and in this war, that is an achievement in and of itself.”

“I just… wish I could do more,” he replied, turning to look at the older medic.

He smiled and shook his head quickly. “We _all_ do.”

Orion put the shield down and returned to the console. "There are still four sets of encrypted coordinates. I am going to use my processor here, and decode the _last_ of that set first."

Ratchet nodded his acceptance. Hopefully the others were seeing more success.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok, aside from Smokescreen's huge asexual robot fanboy crush on Optimus, this is still a Gen fic.

_Decepticon Pod Crash Site, Earth_

Smokescreen tapped his head, trying to get his optics to recalibrate so he could see the bots in front of him properly. They were friendlies, from what he could tell, but none of them looked particularly friendly right now.

“Who are you?” someone asked from behind.

He turned to see none other than Optimus Prime! “S-Smokescreen, sir!” he replied, saluting smartly. “I can’t believe Optimus Prime is here!” he whispered too loudly.

The meanest looking of his allies, the blue two-wheeler, rolled her optics and gave the yellow bot a significant look. So what if he wasn’t exactly a smooth operator yet…

“Welcome to Earth, Smokescreen. I am not Optimus Prime, but Orion Pax.”

“Wait, what? You were un-Primed? Can that even happen?” Orion seemed surprised that Smokescreen was familiar with his designation. “I can’t remember reading anything like that. But man, I’m pretty sure not even Alpha Trion would have thought that was possible," he added.

The bot murmured something over the comm and a green portal opened behind him. “Let’s go, then.”

“You’re going to let him in the base just like that? Don't you remember the whole Wheeljack thing?” the two-wheeler demanded.

“Alpha Trion would not have told him that information lightly. And he matches the image, Arcee.”

He turned and walked into the ground bridge before she could answer. Smokescreen hurried after him to make sure he wouldn't be left behind.

“What image do I match?” he asked, before seeing himself displayed on the monitor near the medic. “All right you guys, this is kind of creepy. What’s going on here?”

“We were hoping you could answer that,” red and white bot replied. “Are you carrying any Iaconian relics?”

“No, not that I know of.”

The medic nodded before walking over to him. “Then would you kindly stay still while I search for obstructions?” he asked while beginning his scan anyway.

“Umm,” he replied, deciding to just go with it.

“Hmm,” the medic grunted before pulling out another scanning device. This one compiled an internal image on his data pad. The medic showed it to him, indicating the glowing red object. “Do you recognise this?”

“Uh, no?” he replied, squinting at it. “I don’t remember putting anything there, either.”

“Bumblebee, please bring me the Phase Shifter.”

The yellow and black bot saluted casually before leaving the main room of the base.

“So does someone want to explain to me what’s actually going on? Where am I? Why are there Decepticons here? How did he get un-Primed?”

“I understand you have many questions Smokescreen, but that is a long story and we are short on time,” Orion replied from his position at the computer. “Perhaps whatever your frame is harbouring will help us solve the mystery.”

If Optimus weren’t here, he would so be ditching out right now.

* * *

_Nemesis: Laboratory_

Viviana jumped at the scraping noise of an odd looking Cybertronian being dragged into the lab by Breakdown and Knockout. She was glad to see Breakdown had cleaned the medic up since the accident with a train a few days ago.

“What’s going on?” she asked as she watched Knockout strap their victim to the operating table. “That’s not an Autobot is it?”

“No, I think you know him as… What was it?” Knockout made the motion of snapping his clawed fingers, pretending to try and remember.

“Psycho Sylas,” Breakdown supplied.

“Ah yes, see, his new body has a few things that belong to our dear Breakdown. A t-cog here, an optic there.”

He struggled and kicked as Knockout changed his hand into a saw blade. Breakdown held him down and applied the last of the restraints.

“You, Creschmati, you can’t let them do this to me!” his distorted voice demanded desperately.

She backed away in horror and bit her lip. Part of her distantly wondered how much her reputation in the scientific community had been dragged through the mud by the revelation of MECH’s true face. “It’s Cremaschi,” she said in a wavering voice. “And, I can’t exactly stop him, can I?”

She turned and walked toward the exit. “I can’t watch this.”

Breakdown approached her so that the door would open. “Go to the bridge.”

She took his advice and moved down the hall. She stopped outside the bridge, and presumably it was Soundwave who let her in. She groaned and shook her head as she walked over to his station.

“So, uh…” she began when the silence continued to stretch. “What are you doing?” she asked, not really expecting an answer.

He picked her up and put her safely on top of the console. _“Decoding coordinates,”_ he replied via visor display. A longer message came up on her phone. It looked just like the old one, but she bet it couldn’t make normal phone calls. _“You will have to entertain yourself.”_

The terminal next to the one he was working at lit up and displayed an unfamiliar program. She guessed it was something to do with sound editing, but everything was in Cybertronian, so she just started pressing buttons at random. Something of a dubstep screech emitted from the machine.

Soundwave paused in his typing and slowly turned his visor to look at her. Viviana shrugged with a nervous laugh. He returned to his work soon after and she built up the courage to try the program again. She was neither DJ nor linguist, but this was certainly a welcome distraction.

Her size meant using the program was as much physical exercise as it was music practice. But soon enough she had a beat set and was layering a melody over the top of it.

She played back what she had made, but something wasn’t quite right. Suddenly one of the songs she had practiced on the violin the other day started layering itself over the beat, which sped up and gained a bass drop. She took half a step back at the unexpected result before looking up and noticing what was on the communications bot’s face.

“Are you doing that Soundwave?”

A green tick overlayed the distorting soundwaves.

“Huh, cool,” she replied. “You know, you should take advantage of your screen and walk around with a smiley face on all the time.”

A smiling pink emoticon appeared on his face. Viviana was surprised again to find the bot really did have a sense of humour.

“Soundwave?” Megatron asked from the doorway, sounding more confused than angry. For once.

The smiley quickly flickered out and lines of text filled his face.

“You’re just… waiting for your code to compile?” Viviana paused to consider what she had just said, then laughed. Typical programmer’s excuse!

Megatron raised a large brow as he considered her. “Don’t you also have work to be doing, human?”

At first she had been surprised when Megatron had started treating her more like an actual person, given their last spat. But according to Knockout, standing up to him like that was the best thing she could have done. As long as she didn’t take it too far, like the Starscream guy they all kept talking about.

“ _You should have thought twice before playing with the big boys, Sylas!”_ Knockout’s distorted voice emitted from Soundwave, followed by the sound of his whirring buzz saw.

“I didn’t realise biologists were squeamish,” he replied, seeming to accept the excuse nonetheless. Maybe Soundwave was also…?

“I have a philosophical doctorate, and I only deal with the microscopic stuff for a reason,” she replied carefully.

Soundwave disconnected from the terminal and turned suddenly. A map was on his face, along with a bright indicator in Cybertronian.

“Ah, excellent, the next set of coordinates,” Megatron replied. “It looks like it’s time to put our decoy to the test. And for you lot to get back to work.”

“If Energon molecules weren’t so strange, I might be further along by now,” she said, watching Soundwave change the ship’s course. “As things are, Knockout and I might be a while yet.”

Megatron was ignoring her now and staring at the monitor. A scouting drone had reached the coordinates already, since the location wasn’t that far away. A live feed showed a large boulder with a piece of metal sticking out of it.

“No, it can’t be,” Megatron said as he leaned forward. “The Star Sabre?” He immediately turned and exited the room, no doubt to investigate for himself.

“The what?” Viviana asked once the door had closed behind him.

A 3D rendition of a sword played across Soundwave’s visor. The animated sword swung, emitting a ray of destructive blue energy. Or rather, Energon, she guessed.

“I… see,” she replied with a weak smile. Soundwave displayed the smiley emoticon again before turning a blank screen back to his work.

Viviana had lost her drive to play around with the program and simply sat down, watching the clouds pass by via the huge screens that displayed what was going on outside. What did robots have against windows, anyway?

Soundwave seemed to hesitate after a few minutes and looked back to her while sending a message. “ _Megatron is calling for you. Take the ground bridge.”_

He placed her on the ground. “Wait, _what_?” she demanded, still wearing her lab equipment.

The bridge opened and he used a tentacle thing to nudge her forward.

* * *

_Star Sabre Excavation Site_

“Doctor,” Megatron called to her as she cautiously weaved among giant robot feet. The breeze on her face was wonderful, but the imminent danger made her want to go back inside and hide.

“Y-yes?” she asked, moving quickly to reach the empty space around him.

“I have a special mission for you. Surely someone as brave as you won’t have any trouble with it,” he said. Despite the mocking tone, his face remained serious.

“I-I think you’ve got the wrong Earth woman. What could I p-possibly…?”

He rolled his eyes at her stuttering and cut to the chase. “If Orion Pax comes here in Optimus Prime’s body, you will need to be the one to distract him.”

“What? Isn’t that the Autobot leader?”

“Yes,” he hissed. “If he gets his hands on this sword, I will destroy you!”

“Hah, not if he destroys you first!” an obnoxious voice called.

They all whipped around, and Viviana cringed as a few feet came very close to her. “Who is that?” Megatron demanded of no one in particular. “An Autobot recruit?”

They started firing their guns at each other, and Viviana crouched down to at least make herself _feel_ safer. The bot was surprisingly agile given his hulking frame, and made it to the sword in no time flat. He started pulling on it, but couldn’t get it to budge.

Megatron stomped over to him and Viviana followed, deciding that being by his side was better than staying out in the open. He sucker punched the distracted bot and the ship's pulley took hold of the rock the sword was in.

“Really?” Viviana asked. “Can’t get the sword out of the stone so you’re just going to take the whole thing?”

“Silence!” he roared as another group of Autobots appeared over the hill, and quickly joined the fray. “Where is Orion Pax?” he demanded.

It didn’t take long to spot the little truck that could. Could drive up a near vertical cliff face, that was.

Megatron transformed and roared with rage. “Stop him!”

The soldiers around her took off into the air after their leader. Viviana found herself left alone with the unknown Autobot.

“So, uh, you wanna ditch the cons or what?”

“No! Well, yes… But not now!” she rubbed her head as he gave her a clearly confused look. “Why can’t you lot understand that?”

“You’re being a bit unclear about you master plan here Doc,” he said. “Whoa, look at Optimus go! So cool!” he yelled, looking up at the sky.

Viviana frowned at him. How old was this one, twelve? “Isn’t he Orion Pax?”

“Well yeah, but the Star Sabre seems to think he should still be a Prime,” he replied, pointing upward.

“Come on Smokescreen, no time to chat!” a relatively small blue Autobot said with a hint of exasperation. “Grab the human and let’s go!”

“No, leave the human and go,” she corrected.

“Hey come on now, you heard what Megatron said! Optimus has that Star Sabre so he’s going to destroy you after all this. There’s still time to run away with us!” Smokescreen tried to persuade.

“He won’t really destroy me,” she assured. “He needs me to perfect SynthEn.”

That perked their interest.

“I’ll hide the formula from Megatron and sell it to you if you grant Breakdown and Knockout safe harbour,” she offered, knowing this might be the last chance to discuss her idea before taking the plunge of leaving the Decepticons.

The blue one sighed. “We would do that for free if they were interested in leaving the cons! At least Pax would, anyway.”

“But with that sword and an endless supply of Energon, you could realistically win the war, right?”

“Look, let’s just get you out of here for now,” Smokescreen said and bent down, but a pair of metal claws came out of nowhere and jerked her off the ground.

“Gah!” Smokescreen yelled in shock as the small spy drone sped past his face. Laserbeak flew upward and dropped her off on the top of the Nemesis. She groaned as the sudden change in altitude made her dizzy.

* * *

_Star Sabre Excavation Site: Mid-air_

Orion Pax glanced at the ground worriedly while all his systems shuddered. Just what had he been thinking? How did he even get up here?

He kept his grip on the sword even as Megatron’s alt-mode approached him. _Primus help me,_ he thought, and the sword began to slide out. He looked up at the glowing weapon as he fell.

“ _This was not made by Primus, Orion Pax. But I am sure it can help you,”_ the voice of his teacher filled his head. An old memory?

“Alpha Trion?” he murmured. Everything appeared to slow down as he fell away from the rock above him. His hand moved of its own accord, slashing a wave of Energon across the sky.

He watched the wave slide through the rock effortlessly and hit the warship above them hard.

“ _Orion Pax, if you have lost your Prime-hood then the matrix is truly gone. We are all doomed.”_

“No,” Orion replied hazily. “I will fix this with or without it.”

He slammed into the ground with a worrying crunch, and all his senses shut down at once.


	6. Chapter 6

_Nemesis: Bridge_

Megatron was leaning against the wall in silent contemplation. This was a far cry from the loud, angry, central figure Viviana had come to know.

His officers slowly filled the bridge, anticipating some sort of rousing speech or a plan for their next move. Dreadwing, Breakdown and Knockout all stood around silently, and of course Soundwave was doing his usual thing. Off-duty minions also filed inside, as many as could fit.

Finally Megatron left the edge of the room and moved toward the centre. Everyone straightened to some semblance of attention at the same time.

“And so dawns the darkest hour for the Decepticons,” he stated quietly, but his voice carried across the room. “With that weapon in hand, the ex-Prime could destroy us all in a single sweep. Any relics that could have helped us are in the hands of the Autobots.”

Viviana glanced around, surprised that he was actually being serious. There were about seven Autobots and three children. There had to be over a hundred Decepticons!

“I admit that at this time I see no clear path forward. Once the ship repairs have been finalised, I will call another meeting. Until then, return to your duties.”

The minions began shuffling out of the room. Knockout put his hand next to Viviana, but she ignored him. She was still waiting for the punchline.

“You cannot be serious!” she burst out once most of the underlings had left the room. “You still have four sets of coordinates! Not that I don’t want you to give up, but you have got to be kidding me! We still outnumber them so much it’s laughable.” She clamped her mouth shut when she realised she had said ‘we’.

“For you, who already has her team switch organised, it may not seem like much,” he replied coolly.

“I can’t believe you are actually responding like this. If I can survive on a ship full of gigantic psychopaths for several weeks, surely you and your entire freaking army can deal with six Autobots and an ex-Prime who’s scared of his own shadow!”

“Well go on then, give your orders if you think you know how to do my job better than I do,” he replied, bending over to put his face in hers.

“Fine then! I will!” she yelled, also leaning forward. Admittedly her move was much less impressive. “Soundwave,” she began. Everyone left on the bridge stiffened.

_Maybe I need less ‘Tron and more Pax_ , she thought.

“Patch us into a call with the Autobots. Tell them we’re ready to negotiate.”

Soundwave tilted his head to the side. Megatron simply threw his hands up. “Well, you had better do as she says.” His sarcasm was palpable.

Something that could only be a dial tone rang out as part of the ‘windscreen’ was overlayed with a communications interface. Eventually the line clicked as it went through. Megatron gestured for her to continue, eyes wide and full of a dark kind of humour.

Viviana swallowed as her heart pounded in her chest. Why was this making her so nervous?

“Um, hi, this is Raf. Everyone else is kind of, er, preoccupied right now…” a young boy’s voice came through.

Megatron roared with laughter and left the bridge, waving his hand. “I give you full reign of the Decepticon warship and all you manage is to call a child?”

Viviana bit her lip and glanced up at Soundwave as he shifted. “ _Speak_ ” was written across his face.

“Hello Raf, this is Doctor Viviana Cremaschi calling from the Nemesis. On behalf of my peers I wish to negotiate a truce. Please bring this call to the attention of one of your seniors.”

“Oh, right, are you the lady we were trying to rescue? How are you calling us?”

“Megatron thought it would be hilarious to let me take charge of the situation. Soundwave seems to be into it. Guy likes to laugh, you know?”

“Er, no? He tried to blow up my house with a satellite mounted laser just the other day.” He tried to play it off as a joke, but his voice wavered toward the end.

The sickness roiling in her gut only became worse. Gods knew she had tried to have a personable relationship with these robots, but they were all just killing machines. She didn’t know how she managed to forget that sometimes.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t know that,” she replied, unable to make out the conversation happening in the background of their call. “I hope your family is all right.”

“They’re… alive,” he replied absently, before the line opened to a speaker call.

“This is the Autobot Field Medic Ratchet. Orion Pax is unavailable. Name your terms.”

“I will give you the perfected formula to Synthetic Energon if you go back to your own planet and agree to stop involving innocent children and their families in this ridiculous war. Earth has more than enough problems of her own, thank you very much.” She took a deep breath and continued. “Or, if it is indeed Energon you have been fighting over, then there will be no need to continue the war.”

“Why should I believe that _you_ have managed to perfect SynthEn?”

“Obviously I’m a genius,” she said, before remembering she was having a planet-changing negotiation and probably shouldn’t be making stupid comments. “That’s just a risk you’re going to have to take, isn’t it? Never forget that you don’t belong here, and that you are endangering the lives of members of my species every single day.”

“Humph, well, I don’t know who taught you to negotiate…”

“You know it’s true,” she replied. “You all do. I’m not really saying you’re all unwelcome here, but your war certainly is.”

A series of loud footsteps started across the bridge, and didn’t stop until they were directly behind her. “As fun as this has been, Soundwave has now helped me to record all the work you’ve put into SynthEn,” Megatron began, showing her a file of notes skewered on the end of one of his claws.

She had kept her notes in written format only, and had made a conscious effort to hide them in her file whenever she could get away with it without looking suspicious. She had been hoping these precautions would prevent Soundwave from stealing her work, but it obviously hadn’t been enough.

“As it is, you have just about outlived your usefulness.”

She gulped, but turned back to the screen. “If you don’t leave, I won’t be the last.”

The screen went completely blank as the call ended. She glanced up at Soundwave before turning to face the warlord properly.

“Uh, Lord Megatron, let’s not be too hasty here. Her tiny servos are a blessing in the med bay,” Knockout said nervously.

Viviana was surprised he was trying to stand up for her at all.

“I think the costs outweigh the benefits in this case,” he replied, raising a hand above her head, palm facing down.

“Megatron, I too think this has gone far enough.”

Viviana glanced around the room before realising it was Soundwave who had spoken.

Shock passed across her aggressor’s face. “Even you, Soundwave?”

He nodded once, slightly.

Megatron dropped his hand back to his side. “Then I leave this one to your discretion,” he said, moving to a console and bringing up a detailed 3D model of the ship. Viviana assumed the red flashing parts needed to be fixed. “I believe you all have work to be doing.”

Knockout hesitated before clearing out with the others.

Viviana glanced up at her saviour. She had no idea how she should respond. Eventually she settled on “Why?”

It was the young Autobot girl’s voice that emitted from him. “ _Are you Megatron’s human?_ ” Said warlord’s back stiffened. A shiver ran down her spine as he used her own voice. “ _I saved you too, remember?_ ”

“Look, that was just circumstance and…”

But Soundwave wasn’t done yet. “ _Too bad your paint job doesn't do the same._ ” “ _Nurse Breakdown._ ” There was a short pause before he played one last thing. “ _Soundwave seems to be into it. Guy likes to laugh, you know?_ ”

“All right, all right, I know what I said,” she replied, sitting down on the metal desktop below her.

“Soundwave, one Starscream is more than enough,” Megatron added offhandedly, still engrossed in the screen.

_“I won’t leave you here to rot. Decepticon promise.” “Soundwave, I will not leave you here to rust. I swear it.”_

That last voice was… Megatron?

“Enough,” the present day one said, with unusually little force.

Though the method was convoluted, Soundwave’s message was clear. _You are one of us now. And you just might be similar enough to Megatron to be bearable._

Viviana twiddled her thumbs in the awkward silence. “What are you saying? I’m too nice to be like Megatron.”

“ _Just go, you little idiots!_ ” he echoed something from her encounter with the Autobot children.

“Oh shut up and use your own voice.” She paused before adding, “It is pretty cool.”

“Task: impossible. But thank you.”

* * *

  
_Autobot Med Bay_

The first thing to come back online were his audial sensors. He could hear Ratchet shuffling around and sighing to himself every now and then.

“If you can hear me, I’m going to start working on your neck structure again. Please respond to me if you’re conscious for I’ll have to induce stasis for this procedure.”

Orion managed to twitch a finger and groan quietly as his vocaliser came back online. Finally he managed to boot up his optics, but found he couldn’t move his head to look at Ratchet.

“Thank the AllSpark you’re awake! Now, could you do me a favour and let go of the Star Sabre?”

Orion complied once he remembered where his servo was. The clang made him start.

“No, no, keep your head still. That’s the way,” he said soothingly, cradling the back of his neck gently but firmly. Orion tried to vent deeply, but felt what he guessed was the berth of the med bay press against his front, threatening to crack his windscreen.

“Alpha Trion,” he managed to enunciate. His old teacher’s voice had visited him again sometime during his period of unconsciousness. A message about the Omega Lock came back to him.

“Omega keys,” he rasped.

“I will make a note of it Orion, now please let me induce stasis. If I don’t do this operation now, you could cause more damage to yourself.”

“Four, last coordinates,” he added before slipping back into unconsciousness on his own.

* * *

  
_Autobot Base_

Bumblebee paced restlessly, glancing over to the med bay every now and then. Ratchet was still working. He about-faced and moved back toward Raf, who seemed to find the fact he could only take five paces in either direction comical.

He made a fist and started circling the room instead. The human doctor’s words had caused guilt to eat at his innards like a hive of Scraplets. Hacking genius or no, Raf and his family had almost died because of their role in the Cybertronian war. It wasn’t fair for them to bring their havoc to other planets, but their old one was uninhabitable. Not to mention, Unicron himself lived in this one.

Raf was waiting for him at the railing of the raised platform by the time he circled the room again. “What’s wrong Bumblebee?”

“ _I’m putting you in danger every day_ ,” he replied, coming to a halt.

Raf frowned and tilted his head. “It’s a little late to be worrying about that, isn’t it? We’ve already been through so much together.”

“ _Of course it’s not. It’ll be too late when you’re offlined._ ”

Raf rarely became impatient with Bumblebee, but sometimes they just didn’t think at the same pace, or in the same way. It seemed Raf considered this to be one of those times. He climbed onto the bottom rung of the railing, attempting to look him squarely in the optic.

“We both know it’s more dangerous for me to leave the Autobot base than stay here now. It’s too late to do anything about it.”

Bumblebee buzzed his discontent.

“So stop torturing yourself over what’s already happened!”

“Whoaaa, things are getting a little heavy in here,” Miko said, coming up behind Raf and bringing her hands down on his shoulders.

Raf almost lost his balance. “Ow!” he complained, but Bumblebee was glad for the distraction.

He turned to see Ratchet was still operating. “ _Orion…_ ”

* * *

  
_Nemesis: Laboratory_

It had been several Earth days since the incident on the bridge, and things still had not returned to normal. The ship was fully functional again, and Soundwave was working on specs for better armouring and shielding. Despite everything, Viviana had not spoken to him since the incident. Was a little gratitude for puttig his tailpipe on the line for her too much to ask?

“What’s up your exhaust, Vivi?” Knockout asked casually as he knelt, _carefully_ , in front of her workstation. Knees could be such a pain to look after.

She didn’t take her eyes off the SynthEn processing plant she was sketching as she raised a brow. “Nothing much, _Knock-Knock_.”

“You’ve been behaving strangely around me lately,” he elaborated.

She sighed and put her pen down. “You enjoying cutting up that con so much freaked me out a bit, that’s all.”

“No, we’re cons, that was just a moron trying to be a con,” he corrected.

“You know what I mean. It’s not exactly sane behaviour.”

He glanced to the side as he thought about what she’d said, and how to word his thoughts in a way she would understand. “You try staying sane after being in this army and a never-ending war for thousands of years.”

“I guess it’s a mercy I would only ever have to put up with it for eighty or so years,” she replied, absently stirring a chemical compound in front of her.

“That is really the extent of your lifespan?” he asked, taken aback now that he knew from personal experience how long an Earth year was. But then, humans changed so quickly as well. While he had more time, they would probably still cover the same life stages.

“Yep, I’m a third of the way there already,” she replied. “Or a quarter, if we’re being optimistic. But given my current situation, I find it hard to be.”

She turned her focus back to the chemistry work she understood better than the engineering Megatron had tried to push on her yesterday. Knockout watched her frown at the SynthEn sample. “Why isn’t it blue? It looks like piss from a macroscopic level,” she complained.

“ _Knockout,_ ” Megatron called through his private comm frequency. “ _Head to these coordinates immediately._ ”

Knockout turned away at that point, putting a finger to his comm. “Yes, Lord Megatron,” he said quickly as he stood. He switched the comm off before adding, “Well, we can discuss the meaning of life later. I have a job to do. I assume you won’t need to be supervised?”

“No, I’ll take the time to work on my appearance,” she replied flatly as she leaned over the microscope.

“You’re beyond hope, darling,” he teased as a bridge opened behind him. He stepped through before she could reply.

_Insane, huh?_ he thought as Breakdown followed him through. “You’re still recovering from surgery! Go back before the Autobots get here!” he demanded as he walked over to the relic capsule. He was glad to see it hiding in plain sight for once.

“Last time I let you go out alone you got run over by a train,” he commented.

Knockout stiffened as another ground bridge opened. “Then you know these two aren’t to be trifled with!” he hissed. “Get back to the ship before I pull rank on you.”

He watched Arcee pause and glance around. “You know, when she said safe harbour, I didn’t think she was referring to an actual beach,” she called.

Knockout sighed, disgruntled. “I can’t help what comes out of her mouth.”

“Well, why don’t you bring that thing over here and give this ground bridge a try?” she suggested. She seemed to think she was distracting him from the yellow scout edging around, trying to get behind them.

Breakdown looked at him seriously, and Knockout mentally tutted at the scratches under his returned optic that he’d missed filling in. “Yeah, why don’t we?”

“ _Because_ , Megatron ripping your spark out is something I can’t fix!”

“If he can’t find us then he can’t find you,” the two-wheeler tried.

“Megatron doesn’t give scrap about me, as he’s already proven multiple times. Even Bulkhead is better than this,” he said.

“Then go! Now is the best chance you’ll get, and you know as well as I that if Soundwave isn’t listening to this right now he will be soon.”

Breakdown made a noise of discontent as he turned to face Bumblebee. “Looks like you had better make your exit then,” he said, blocking the scout from getting between Knockout and the ground bridge.

“ _I’m sure we'll meet again soon. Take care of yourself,_ ” he added on the private comm link.

Knockout steeled himself before running back through the bridge with the relic securely under his arm. There was no way this could end well.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The first scene of this chapter is quite dark and graphic compared to the rest of the fic.  
> TW: physical abuse

_Nemesis: Megatron’s Quarters_

Knockout tried not to fidget while he waited outside the warlord’s quarters. Being called up here in the middle of the night usually only ever happened to Starscream.

He knew he was being made to wait so that Megatron could delight in his squirming, but he couldn’t restrain himself from shifting nervously. His only consolation was that he was the only medic on the ship, so the damage dealt wouldn’t be anything more than what he could fix on his own.

 _Damn you, Breakdown_ , he thought, but he knew it wasn’t really his fault. Megatron had shot himself in the pede by leaving Breakdown to his fate. The only problem was he was the one paying for it now!

He jumped when the door slid open, before pretending to act natural when he realised it was only Soundwave leaving the room. The silent con stood to the side and gestured for him to enter.

He tried to walk in confidently, but his trepidation built with every step. Megatron was at the terminal, back turned, watching something intently. Knockout paused when he realised it was video feed of him and Breakdown.

The door slid shut behind him and Megatron finally turned around. “You know why I’ve called you here.”

His fingers curled instinctively. He couldn’t fight Megatron, and the ship was fully functional again so there was no chance of jumping while they were close to the ground. Soundwave wouldn’t open a bridge for him, and there was no way he could program his own while running.

He was effectively trapped.

“Do you see now why I left Breakdown to 'rot'? He has the soft spark of an Autobot.”

“He only left _because_ you abandoned him to MECH,” Knockout argued before his common sense could catch up.

Megatron was big, but he was also unexpectedly fast. Knockout felt the wound on his faceplate before he saw the attack coming. The lacerations stung, but he knew it would look worse than it felt, since he was the one being punished.

“Why should I believe anything emitted by you, especially after your reaction to Starscream’s attempt to take power?”

“I do what I need to survive!” he tried to defend himself, since Megatron didn’t seem to be accepting criticism today.

He stepped forward and slammed him into the wall. “Your survival instincts seem to be failing you right now,” he taunted.

The warlord’s pointed fingers slid through the weaker plating just under his chest, pinning him in place. Knockout registered that he had purposely missed every major pipeline and cable, but that didn’t stop his pain sensors from overloading.

“If you came in here thinking you are indispensable, you are sorely mistaken. I, too, am intimately familiar with tearing mechs limb from limb, circuitry from fibres... and I suppose I could be bothered putting them back together again.”

Knockout wanted to make a comment about how understaffed they were at the moment, but his self-preservation had finally kicked in. His instincts screamed at him to tear into the sensitive fibres exposed at Megatron's elbow joint, but he knew it would be better to just freeze and take whatever else was coming.

He might survive the encounter this way.

Megatron’s fingers slid out slowly and Knockout dared to relax for a second. As soon as his plating shifted, the hand changed direction and stabbed upward. His digits broke through the tougher outer plating of his spark chamber and dented the softer plate, which was all that stood between his attacker and his very life force.

Pride forgotten, he let out a whimper as he felt his knees buckle. The only reason he continued holding his own weight was the increasing pressure on the final barrier. A tad more force and he could go offline forever.

He stared down in horror, watching his own Energon seep along Megatron’s arm and drip to the floor. The puddle on the floor reflected light from the console, which was still playing video collected from his last mission.

“If you dare to follow in Breakdown’s footsteps,” Megatron simultaneously punctured the sentence and the final barrier to his spark chamber, “I won’t hold back. Is that clear?”

Knockout nodded quickly as data from his sensors began to fade. His preservation protocols were going haywire, redirecting Energon from all other functions. He shivered as a claw passed through the edge of his spark.

The hand was as quick to leave as it was to come. Knockout fell to his knees as soon as it was gone, and Megatron reached up to activate his comm unit. “Send in Dreadwing to clean this mess up,” were the last words he registered before dropping into emergency stasis.

* * *

_Autobot Base_

Breakdown jolted out of stasis, his proximity sensors going off wildly. He sat up suddenly to find himself on the berth in the Autobot med bay. A few days ago this would have been a situation to fear. But now it was just something borne of necessity, since the bots didn’t really have the resources to house yet another.

He glanced up to find Ratchet was the one who had set off his internal alarms. But it seemed he was just playing with some old SynthEn.

“Sorry if I woke you,” he said gruffly, not looking up from his work.

“It’s late,” he replied, not about to tell off the medic like he would Knockout.

“My processor insists on working overtime despite that. You can go to my room if you like,” he offered, obviously not about to stop any time soon.

He was surprised by this, because Ratchet lived near all the relics, which weren’t exactly locked away in a vault. Were they already beginning to trust him?

He would have taken the offer, but he had a bad feeling in his spark that he was unable to shake. He probably wouldn’t be getting much recharge for the rest of the night either way.

“You know, I helped Knockout and Viviana with their SynthEn a lot. I might not be a trained scientist, but I could probably help you,” he said, sliding off the berth.

Ratchet glanced up at him, looking pleasantly surprised. “What do you make of this?” he asked, handing over his sample.

Maybe Breakdown hadn’t explained clearly enough. He was an _assistant_. “Er,” he tried, “it’s still green so I’m pretty sure it’s not right yet.”

Ratchet chortled and took the SynthEn back. “Right, right, not your area of expertise,” he said as some sort of apology. “In that case, I’m going to require the matter sieve.”

“I think I can remember what the molecular model looks like,” he replied absently, as he pawed through the tools on the bench. “Is _this_ your sieve?” he asked and began laughing. He was surprised the archaic scrap wasn’t rusted up yet!

Ratchet grumbled and snatched the device. “We have to work with what we have around here. Now make yourself useful and compare your model to mine,” he snapped, bringing up the data on the console screen.

“I only know how to construct it by Earth’s standards, not Cybertron’s. Can’t you convert this for me?”

Ratchet sighed impatiently, but turned to the screen nonetheless. “How different can it be? They describe the same ideas, so surely…” He opened a webpage on molecular diagrams. “What _is_ this?”

Breakdown laughed gently. “That was Knockout’s reaction too.”

The diagram ended up taking longer to change than they had anticipated. While Breakdown didn’t consciously photograph everything around him like Soundwave, his memory core was very efficient with visual images. It was nearly sunrise by the time they got back to work, but their path was clear now.

“Yo Doc, you’re up early,” the youngest of the Autobots entered the main room. “You two having a pyjama party?”

Breakdown didn’t catch the human reference but Ratchet just shook his head. “Don’t call me that, you’re as bad as Wheeljack. And don’t come near my equipment until I’m done! After what happened last time…” He carefully filled the test tube with their new liquid. It wasn’t quite at the same level as Viviana’s yet, but it wasn’t green anymore either.

“You know, you don’t have to do what he says,” Smokescreen added when Breakdown continued holding the second container for him.

He shrugged once the pouring was finished, so it wouldn’t spill. “This is my job on the Nemesis, anyway.”

“Huh, really? You don’t look like you’re built for such delicate stuff. What do you do for fun, Breaks?” He leaned on one of Ratchet’s med bay counters despite his protests.

“I dunno,” he replied, too embarrassed to mention his digital paintings. Not that he would let anyone look through his gallery. Most of it was wishful thinking about what living on the Nemesis could be like. “You don’t look like you’re built for speed either.”

He looked mildly offended before continuing. “What, really? Your ship must be more Spartan than this place!”

He again used Earth words he didn’t know. By the time he had accessed his web browser to look it up, more Autobots were entering the room.

Bulkhead handed him some refined Energon before punching his shoulder lightly. “Out of the lab! Shoo, shoo!” Ratchet demanded at this display. “If you keep breaking my tools, I won’t have anything at all to work with!”

Smokescreen sighed and moved across the room. “Is Knockout like this?”

“If his lab and med bay were in the middle of the bridge, I imagine he would be,” he replied neutrally.

“Yes, well, when he decides to defect tell him to bring some of those advanced tools with him,” Ratchet muttered, putting the SynthEn sample away for now.

Orion Pax entered the room, staring at a little data pad in his giant Prime hands. “Without the Omega Keys, I believe our only option is to attempt to ambush Megatron on Cybertron. Are these spacebridge schematics right Ratchet?”

Apparently Starscream had augmented himself with Red Energon to steal the keys, but Breakdown had been in another room getting a lecture from Arcee about human safety at the time. Clearly they wanted to let their compatriots back in the base as soon as possible.

“I told you already, I don’t have the engineering knowledge,” Ratchet murmured, throwing the diagrams up on the big screen nonetheless.

“Looks about right to me,” Breakdown said, noting the similarity to the maintenance maps he’d needed to memorise while taking charge of the underground spacebridge. He was still waiting to meet this ‘Agentfowler’...

They turned to look at him in surprise. “And you’d know?” Arcee muttered.

“Well yeah, I led the grounder maintenance crew since Knockout was too busy with other stuff. But now their bridge is in outer space it’s up to the fliers. If Starscream were still with us it’d be his jurisdiction but…”

He stopped rambling now that they were all staring at him.

“Anyway, I know enough to tell that’ll work, though it might not be perfect. With the relic’s power, I’m sure it’ll be fine.”

“You’re very relaxed about the fact this could tear us apart if it goes wrong,” Ratchet commented.

Breakdown just grinned. “Have you _seen_ how Knockout conducts experiments?”

* * *

  
_Nemesis: Lab_

Knockout was tense when Megatron followed him into the lab. Yesterday’s incident was still at the top of his memory core, making it difficult to work on anything. He noticed Viviana stand up to get a better look at what was going on.

Thankfully he wasn’t the one who needed to be in the med bay this time. Dreadwing and Soundwave dragged in the knocked out Smokescreen behind them.

“This could get dangerous, Doctor,” Megatron said. Knockout nodded stiffly and picked up Viviana, before placing her on his shoulder. The unpainted part near his neck, of course.

“All right, let’s take a look under his hood,” he said, turning on his scanning device.

Smokescreen groaned as he woke up. He looked around carefully before straightening up as much as he could. “What’s going on?”

“Oh, not much. But I believe you’re carrying some things that belong to us,” Knockout replied, ensuring his prisoner got a good look at the device on his wrist.

“Enough prattling,” Megatron ordered, and he backed down immediately. “You know what it is I am after, Autobot.”

“Relics?” he asked with bravado. “That’s the only one I’ve got.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure about that!” Knockout replied, but was soon disappointed when the scan showed nothing unusual.

“I would,” Smokescreen said. “The Autobots already figured that one out.”

“Of course they did,” Megatron muttered impatiently. “They have Orion Pax.”

Smokescreen looked almost bored as he glanced around the room more carefully. He finally seemed to spot Viviana. “Oh hey, I remember you! So the big M didn’t destroy you after all, huh?”

Megatron vented before moving toward the door. “Set up a Corticol Psychic Patch and move the Autobot to the next room. Give the little Doctor to Soundwave.”

The tentacle gently removed her from her current position, and placed her on the part of Soundwave's plating that was actually Laserbeak. “See you later Smokescreen,” she said with a look of worry, as Soundwave turned and left the room.

Knockout hesitated to order Dreadwing about as he did Breakdown, but he couldn’t do this alone. “Well, let’s move him to the next room, shall we?”

Dreadwing removed the heavy rifle he kept on his back and pointed it at Smokescreen’s spark. “Struggle at your own risk, Autobot.”

Knockout apprehensively moved forward to undo the restraints, ensuring he didn’t get between the prisoner and the gun for a single moment.

“Yeah all right, lay off. It’s not like you’re going to find anything worthwhile,” he said while Dreadwing poked him in the back to get him moving. Knockout found something infuriating about how the young bot didn’t even seem to acknowledge the threat to his spark.

“I don’t know, I would consider knowing Breakdown’s status worthwhile,” he snapped in an attempt to cover his unease.

“Yeah, but, you don’t need a CPP for that. He’s just dandy, but I think he misses you.”

He rolled his optics and didn’t dare say anything more about the matter out loud. If they weren’t so badly lacking in officers, he just knew Megatron would have offed him yesterday. So Knockout could only strap him to the berth a little more loosely than he normally would a prisoner as thanks for the tidbit.

But as he would soon find out, that was exactly the wrong thing to do.

* * *

  
_Nemesis: Hallway_

Smokescreen smirked as he watched Knockout squirm, as if it would help him escape the wall. “Guess I’ll see ya round Doc.”

“You can’t just leave me here! Megatron won’t dig me out any time soon, that’s for sure.”

“Not my problem,” he said, but couldn’t quite bring himself to just run off. He had noticed the small kindness Knockout had shown, right before exploiting it for everything it was worth.

“Come on, all you have to do is push me back through the wall. Then there’s no risk of me taking the Phase Shifter.” He stared imploringly. “Megatron will probably _eat_ my spark at this rate.”

Smokescreen vented. He wouldn’t be able to face Breakdown if he just left his friend like this. He unceremoniously kicked Knockout away, just to make extra sure he wouldn’t be able to reach his relic. _Now_ he could make off down the hallway.

He swore he heard something about scuffed paint along the way.

He glanced around, bringing up the map the others had used on their last few excursions to the Nemesis. Soundwave liked to hang out in the bridge, which meant the human was probably with him. He guessed she was more likely to move than the keys when they learned of his escape, so he planned to go there first.

“Oh Doctor, where are you?” he called. The bridge door wouldn’t open for him, but that wasn’t exactly an issue right now. As soon as he passed through it a tentacle tried to drill through him, but it had the same problem as the door.

“Obviously you already know,” she replied, still sitting on Soundwave’s chest armour. “While your concern is appreciated, Soundwave is the one who gets crap done around here. I think you’re a little out of your league.”

“I don’t!” he replied, running up to her. He became solid long enough to grab her, but Laserbeak took off as he was about to reach her. He quickly engaged the phaser again, passing through Soundwave instead.

“No, seriously,” she gasped as she nearly slid off the bird’s metallic surface. “Quit while you’re ahead. I’ll call you all again some other time.”

“Fine then, another time.” He turned to run for the keys before adding, “Don’t be a stranger!"


	8. Chapter 8

_Nemesis: Megatron’s Quarters_

Vivana felt a little seasick as she sat perched on Megatron’s shoulder. They had taken to walking around and discussing things related to SynthEn outside the lab. Privately she was glad, because Knockout did the Cybertronian equivalent of breaking out in a cold sweat every time he entered the room.

She had seen the damage before he had returned to consciousness and repaired himself. After requesting a basic biology lesson from Dreadwing, she realised how close he had come to dying. Small wonder the doctor didn’t seem to be up for sharing.

“Well, you might not be an engineer,” Megatron replied to her complaint as he opened the door to a part of the ship Viviana had never seen before, “but I am. You need simply make a list of things the machine must perform, and Soundwave and I will personally -”

He came to a sudden halt in both speech and movement. Before she could see what had happened, he raised his hand to cover her.

“Starscream?”

“I thought you might be… looking for these,” the voice said, shortly followed by a scraping sound.

Viviana froze. If Megatron was trying to shield her, then even he was worried about this con. This Starscream had to be unstable.

“The Omega Keys? What could you possibly want in return for something so valuable?”

“My only wish is to become a Decepticon again.”

He deliberated for a moment before dropping his hand, revealing the lanky con to Viviana. He swiftly turned back into the hallway. “With me, then.” He activated his comm and added, “Knockout, prepare the Cortical Psychic Patch.”

“Lord Megatron, you appear to have a lifeform from this planet on-”

“You think I hadn’t noticed, Starscream?” he demanded. “While you have been off hunting for Energon scraps to live off, the good Doctor has been perfecting SynthEn.”

“You’re… not referring to Knockout, are you?” he replied anxiously.

Viviana turned to look back at him, carefully shifting her legs so she was straddling his shoulder instead. “My, er, ‘designation’ is Viviana. I’ve… heard a lot about you, Starscream.” She decided to leave it at that.

He looked flattered until Megatron said, “Of course you have, thanks to his past failures and volatile nature.”

“You don’t have the right to call anyone volatile,” she replied.

“As you will undoubtedly soon see, this one is an exception.”

And indeed, she was shocked by some of the things playing through the Patch. She glanced at Knockout from her position sitting on the table when the question of his loyalty came up.

“What? You know what it’s like around here!” He stood with his arms folded and didn’t look at her again.

Dreadwing was also in the lab, not looking happy with having to take on some of Breakdown’s responsibilities. He entered the CPP room upon hearing the name ‘Skyquake’.

The more the story unfolded, the wider his eyes became. “My brother,” he murmured.

“Uh… awkward?” Knockout replied, not seeming to be sincerely concerned.

Viviana watched as the heavy-set, winged con’s fists clenched. “You had better keep that from Dreadwing,” the mental avatar of Megatron said, and the con’s face set in an expression of rage.

Viviana glanced between him, Megatron and Starscream a few times in disbelief. “Gods, how does anything get done around here?” she asked. “Anything other than backstabbing, I mean. Whole freaking planets are at stake here!”

“As if humans are any better,” Knockout scoffed, but seemed to agree with her on some level.

“The Decepticon cause has been disgraced today!” the other con added. “I will not stand for this!” He stormed out of the room.

“That is going to take some damage control,” Knockout commented, and looked at her expectantly.

“What? You want me to…?”

“Well, you’re the one who said we all need to get along better.”

She sighed as he put her on the ground. “Hey, Dreadwing! Wait for me!”

He paused in the doorway, glancing down at her with a look of shock. That was fair enough; they didn’t really talk outside of work. “Do you need something?”

“Hey, uh, it’s really crappy. What Starscream did to your brother, I mean. If that happened to my brother, I’d…” She trailed off, deciding to stick to talking about his problem instead. She finally reached him and they entered the other part of the lab together, letting the door close.

He stared at her incredulously. “You also have a spark-sibling?”

“Well, um, it’s a bit different. He’s younger than me and we’re not mentally connected or anything, but we have the same parents and grew up together.” At his confusion she tried to explain the bare basics. “I guess you can say every female human has an AllSpark in her that needs to be activated by a male human, so a spark and protoform can be created.”

She couldn’t help but feel like she was trying to explain the birds and the bees to a five year old who would only accept obtuse metaphors.

“So, the fact we’re from the same parents makes us linked genetically, and growing up in a family unit made us close siblings. But that’s not really important right now. Are you all right?”

“Am I all…?” He seemed bewildered that she had even asked. “Of course not! I will destroy that wretch if Megatron does not! Would you not feel this way with your ‘brother’?”

She noticed the distinct lack of honorific title to go with that proclamation. “Are you sure it wouldn’t be better to get your revenge in a quieter way? I don’t know everything, but from what I’ve heard, Megatron is quite fond of Scream. I think he would destroy you before you could do anything.”

“Are you suggesting that I become an Autobot?” His brows drew in disgust.

“No,” she replied. “Just think about the situation a little more, all right? There are options other than Autobot and Decepticon.”

He turned to take care of a stack of dirty lab equipment, and didn’t answer immediately. “I do not think Megatron would be very impressed if I made a proclamation of being on my own side.”

Viviana just shrugged. “It worked for me, didn’t it?”

* * *

  
_Nemesis: Bridge_

Soundwave paused the playback. Megatron certainly had shot himself in the pede, multiple times. Soundwave was meant to prevent these things, he was meant to stop problems before they arose and interfered with his lord’s goals.

But he had become side-tracked by the coordinates, and looking out for the Autobot base, and not to mention working out how to accommodate a human. Thanks to his lack of focus, the team was crumbling around them.

But, there was hope yet.

Viviana was indeed proving to be a worthwhile asset. He had known that crushing her would only exacerbate the discontent between Knockout, Breakdown, and the Decepticon cause, but that was only one of the reasons he had spoken up.

Her ability to improve SynthEn was necessary for a Cybertronian utopia. With her aptitude for understanding other facets of their biology, she could only provide more medical benefits in the future.

On top of that, she also seemed to have some immediately executable uses as well. She was like ‘glue’, providing support and filling in the gaps between the officers’ varying goals and loyalties. If he didn’t do something about the team dynamics soon, the Autobots would win on the basis of there being no opposing faction left.

Megatron entered the bridge, and Starscream pranced in behind him. Soundwave did not approve of the final decision, but he did feel things may work out differently this time.

Megatron paused and looked at him again. “Where is Laserbeak?”

Soundwave showed an image of an Earth spacesuit, before switching to the con’s view as she soared over the clouds. His research had led him to believe that a Cybertronian atmosphere would not be survivable for humans. Conveniently though, their gravity was very similar.

“Of course, I hadn’t thought of that. What is her ETA?”

A timer appeared on his face, counting down in Cybertronian units of time. She was very close.

“Excellent, then prepare the spacebridge. We had best go ahead and put these keys to use before the Autobots find a way to interfere.”

* * *

  
_Autobot Base_

Orion put the Forge down and bent over to recover his energy as Ratchet admired their gleaming new spacebridge. The Star Sabre was slung across Orion’s back, but he didn’t know if he could bring himself to use its destructive power again.

“Ready to commence operation retrieve Omega Keys and find lock,” he stated. “We will need to tackle this mission with all of our strength.”

Each fighting Autobot took a relic, but Orion put his hand on Smokescreen’s arm when he tried to bring the Spark Extractor as well. “This operation will sacrifice as few lives as possible.”

“A-all right,” he replied, glancing down at the point of contact.

Breakdown stood around awkwardly while the four Autobots assembled in front of the space bridge. He caught Orion’s attention as he passed. “Good luck with restoring Cybertron. And, uh, if you see Knockout…”

“We shall try once more to convince him to return with us,” he promised.

Breakdown nodded his gratitude before stepping back to stay by Ratchet.

“Megatron is on Cybertron now,” the medic confirmed. “Is everyone prepared?”

They nodded mutually, the air thick with nerves. “Then let’s roll out,” Orion said at last.

* * *

  
_Nemesis_

Viviana pulled on the space suit with Soundwave’s help, letting him check everything was done up correctly as she went along. “What’s happening? Where are we going?” she asked.

Knockout and Soundwave glanced at each other significantly. “As you may have guessed, we’re going to Cybertron,” Knockout said, not quite sounding normal.

“Why are you taking me? Isn’t it dangerous?”

“Oh, well, I thought you’d be excited to visit another planet.”

“Will the gravity crush me?” she asked, panicky. The helmet being sealed in place didn’t help with that problem any.

“ _Gravity = survivable_ ,” showed up on Soundwave’s face.

A ground bridge opened as Dreadwing and Starscream returned to the Nemesis. To Viviana’s shock, they were also carrying the three Autobot children trapped in glass tubes. “What the hell is going on?”

“Lord Megatron will be the one to restore Cybertron,” Starscream said as the ground bridge became a spacebridge portal.

Viviana frowned as Soundwave picked her up. “So why do I have to be there? What are you doing to those kids?”

The sight on the other side of the spacebridge served to answer some of her questions. They were trading children for Omega Keys, it seemed.

The exchange was completed smoothly on both sides. “Let us return the children to Earth,” Orion Pax half pleaded and half demanded. It was almost painfully obvious he was struggling to fill the shoes of resistance leader.

“I believe they are safer here, for now. After all, before we reform Cybertron, we should first concentrate on Earth. Why rule just one planet when I could have two?”

“You _what_?” Viviana demanded as the Decepticons took the keys over to the lock. “You can’t be serious! Why?”

“Do keep in mind that the only reason you are here and not in danger of dying during the Cyber-forming process is Soundwave’s insistence,” he reminded sharply.

“I won’t let you destroy my planet!” she yelled, voice muffled by the spacesuit. She threw her phone at his head, which surprisingly hit, but of course only bounced off harmlessly. She cried out with wordless frustration.

At Megatron’s unamused look, Soundwave’s feelers restrained her limbs, rather than just carrying her. The other appendage retrieved the communication device.

“She’s right,” Orion said. “How can you involve another planet in this war? Have you forgotten what oppression feels like, Megatronus?”

Everyone seemed to freeze, waiting for Megatron to either retort, agree, or give the order to continue with the Cyber-forming.

Eventually, it was Orion who spoke again.

“This conquest was not what we were fighting for. I am done with looking for a solution through violence! If we haven’t found one through millions of years of warfare, then there must be another way. Some sort of compromise that will benefit everyone here!”

“You say that while wielding the Star Sabre?”

“I have not touched it since we arrived,” he reminded, removing it from his back and tossing it away. “Now tell your guards to stand down, and let us sit and talk about this like the civilised people we are.”

“Soundwave,” Megatron began, and Viviana’s hands formed fists again. “Bridge us to the largest meeting room on the Nemesis. Soldiers, put your weapons down.”

The portal shifted, and Earth was guaranteed its safety for a bit longer. Viviana relaxed and Soundwave stopped restraining her.

* * *

  
_Nemesis: Conference Room_

They filed through the bridge and into a room full of chairs running down one long table. Ratchet and Breakdown hesitantly entered the room through a ground bridge provided be Soundwave.

The Autobots sat at one end, and the Decepticon officers took up the other. Breakdown awkwardly sat somewhere in the middle, but he was joined by Doctor Cremaschi when she was released. She took off the spacesuit helmet and smiled at him.

Seeing the atmosphere was safe for humans, Orion nodded for the Autobots to release the children from the cylinders.

“Well then, Orion, you had better get started,” Megatron said once everyone was settled.

He nodded, processing hard. He had not planned for this outcome, but he had dared to hope for it.

“With infinite Energon, there will no longer be an issue of scarcity on Cybertron. Our planet could restart with a new Golden Age, a renaissance, if you will permit the Earth terminology. There is no need to continue segregating ourselves, or if there is, there is no reason we shouldn’t be able to live on the same planet.”

“Not to mention, the Synthetic Energon will also power the Omega lock, allowing us to cure any wound,” Ratchet added, glancing at Bumblebee. “It is too good a bounty to keep from any Cybertronian.”

“It is true that we could all return to Cybertron at this point. But I remain unconvinced of the stability of the government,” Megatron replied. “The idea of the Matrix and Primes is something I’m unable to get behind. What guarantee is there that this utopia will remain once the population begins to increase?”

Orion dropped his head slightly and smiled wryly. “That is a valid concern. There is no guarantee. And given the current state of the Matrix, it is definitely something we are going to have to work out together.”

“You’re going to have to start from scratch,” Jack commented. “But you have everything you need to live. No more fighting just to survive…”

“Humans are far from perfect, but we’ve managed to live this long without a Matrix of Leadership,” Raf added. “Thrive, even, one could argue.”

“Conditions: acceptable,” Soundwave commented, turning his screen to Megatron. Those surrounding Orion started at his voice, and he remembered that to everyone else it had been quite some time since they had last heard Soundwave speak.

“Very well,” Megatron said as he stood. Orion also got to his pedes, and they both moved to meet in the middle of the long table.

Orion offered his servo, and Megatron shook it after only a brief pause, making Orion feel like an Earth politician. _Well, this is as good a start as any_ , he thought.

“Now, are you finally going to let your hostage return to her normal life?”

The woman glanced up at him in shock. Megatron turned to face her. “I don’t know about that. If you can give us infinite Energon, what else can you figure out?”

“Uh, it’s been fun Megs, but I’m tired of fearing for my life. Though, some parts were more fun than others,” she said and looked back at Soundwave and Knockout. “But really, I’m sick of working for free.”

“Free? Do you realise how many modifications we had to make to the ship just so you could survive?”

“And none of those included a toilet,” she grumbled. “And I had to use the chemical fridge to store my food! What even is lab safety?”

He vented, feigning surrender. “Very well then, return to your plain existence. Building you living quarters on Cybertron would be even more of a nuisance anyway.”

“Although my instincts are calling for me to write up an official document that can be catalogued for later reference, I believe our verbal agreement will have to do for now. We have already wasted more than enough time.” Not just the minutes it had taken them to reach the barest of agreements, but the millennia of war leading to this point.

“You shouldn’t get too far ahead of yourself,” Megatron warned. “We are agreeing to a ceasefire, and we are agreeing to remove all military presence from Earth. The rest will be decided in time.”

Orion nodded. It was still progress.

Knockout stood and paused behind Breakdown. Orion noted the warning look that flashed across Megatron’s face. “I am no longer a Decepticon,” he stated. “I need protective custody.”

“And so the ship finally pulls into harbour,” Arcee quipped.

Knockout grimaced. “Tch, that was a good one,” he admitted.

Orion glanced down at his human friends as they freely approached the doctor now that the Decepticons were of no immediate threat. Raf took her helmet and Jack and Miko wrenched her to her feet. They chatted easily, checking in with each other.

These lifeforms may be tiny, weak and all too quick to expire, but it was they who had been the catalyst for change among a race of enduring titans. And though Cybertronians were the ones that transformed, real change had been a long time coming.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The last chapter is an epilogue.


	9. Chapter 9

_Australia, Earth_

Viviana stood idly on the train, watching cars try to keep up in the highway lanes on the side. She liked looking at the red cars and judging whether or not Knockout would ever make it his alt-mode. She thought she spotted one in the model he had copied all those years ago, but soon dismissed that when its ‘ghastly’ hatchback came into view.

It had been just over six Earth years since the Cybertronian military forces had pulled out. That meant it had been almost one of their years, and there had been murmurs between both governments of organising a remembrance ceremony to cultivate good will and prevent another disaster. Megatron wasn’t exactly the easiest person to work with, but it seemed someone was keeping him in check. Viviana had her money on a combination of Soundwave and Orion.

The last minute nature of the decision meant that she was being pulled away from her current research on a new Australian species to participate. She wasn’t exactly sure how she would be involved. Some sort of respectful prisoner of war acknowledgement, she supposed. As long as she didn’t have to give any speeches…

The train entered a tunnel and they began to slow down as they arrived at the underground station. As promised, Agent Fowler and Nurse Darby were there to pick her up, given that they would also be in attendance.

“Long time no see,” she greeted as they all shook hands.

“Good to see you, Agent,” Fowler said with a smile.

“I liked it better when I was Doctor,” she replied in turn as they headed for the escalator. “So how is everything going?”

“Well, the kids are getting along on Cybertron just fine. Miko has started an exchange student program with the Iaconian Hall of Records being the ‘school’. She even runs language courses in her spare time.

“Raf is constantly run off his feet between communications, archiving, the med bay and the police force. I don’t know how that young man does it.”

“Miko was right, he should have just picked one Transformer to belong to,” she joked. They exited the station and moved to the parking lot. A sleek police car waited for them outside, and the first thing Viviana noticed was the lack of a driver.

“Yo Doc, what up?” Smokescreen asked as his doors opened.

“For a moment there I thought you had matured,” she replied, tapping the _P_ on his paint job.

“Hardy hah. Watch the finish.”

“As for Jack, well, he’s too busy running in the local election to be on Cybertron right now. I think he’s hoping to learn a thing or two so he can give Orion and Megatron some, uh, advice,” Nurse Darby added.

“And how are all the bots getting along?”

“Well, more of their species is returning every day,” Fowler continued. “They also regained the ability to reproduce with their AllSpark after Orion and Wheeljack retrieved it. The cons are sharing their engineering, and there’s Energon for all. If only Earth’s problems were so simple to solve!”

“Yeah, we’ve got to get onto Unicron about getting us an Omega Lock,” she replied as they took off and headed toward the official spacebridging pass.

“Ok, ready for that bridge now!” Smokescreen announced.

They smoothly made the transition onto Cybertron. The entire Earth Embassy building was suitable for both human and Cybertronian habitation. Going outside still required a breathing mask, but the atmosphere had improved considerably since they had used the Omega Lock.

Nervousness pulled at her gut as she looked at the giant feet waiting for them. Orion Pax and Megatron were there of course, but so were Soundwave, Knockout, and Breakdown. They got out of Smokescreen so he could also transform and make up the last of the party greeting them.

“Now see, I get why this works. You have the brutal guy and the nice guy balancing each other out,” Viviana commented.

“It’s good to see you too,” Megatron said sarcastically.

“You know I don’t do diplomacy,” Viviana replied.

“ _I don’t know who taught you to negotiate,”_ Soundwave agreed, in Ratchet’s voice.

“Ugh, don’t remind me,” she replied with a small smile.

“It is Remembrance Day,” he replied and put his smiley emoticon up.

“I tried to tell him it only makes him scarier, but do you think he would listen?” Knockout added, gesturing at the communications expert’s face. “But before all that, there’s someone I think you might be interested in meeting.” He beckoned her to follow. “Well, perhaps he’s the one that’s more interested in meeting you.”

She glanced around at the others before deciding it was appropriate to follow. She jogged after him and Breakdown brought up the rear.

Once they were out of sight he grabbed her and lifted her to his optic level. “We’re not allowed to do that to humans anymore,” he commented offhandedly. “You look more wrung out than usual, fleshbag.”

She rolled her eyes and whacked his thumb. “It’s called aging. I’m nearly 35 now.”

“Then doesn’t that mean your AllSpark is about to go out?”

“Oh don’t you start. You sound just like my mother!”

He shrugged as they entered a brightly lit laboratory. The design was surprisingly similar to the Nemesis. It even had an, albeit better furbished, human quarters in the back corner. He let her down on the central bench, where a bulky purple bot was working.

The Cybertronian turned to them, a single glowing eye making up his face. “Shockwave, Viviana,” Knockout introduced briefly.

“Doctor Cremaschi, I presume?”

“Er, yes, nice to meet you?” she answered in kind, still having no idea who this guy was.

“I see Knockout has been a fountain of information, as ever. During the war I was Megatron’s head scientist, but thanks to Starscream I became lost in the spacebridge for quite some time. I have been admiring your work on the SynthEn formula, and making tweaks I’m sure you would have, had there been more time.

“Though I think I should point out, in particular, that the blue colour of Energon is incidental and unimportant to its chemical function. Your concern was logical, given the excrement of your species.”

“Oh, well, that’s a relief,” she replied, realising he had been reading the uncensored and unordered handwritten notes that Soundwave and Megatron had stolen from her. Vaguely embarrassed, she decided to change the subject. “Starscream is good at making enemies, huh? How are he and Dreadwing getting on these days?”

“Though it is speculation, I have reason to believe Dreadwing has been ruining his political campaigns at every turn.”

Viviana laughed. “Well, that’s better than blowing each other’s brains out, I suppose. We don’t need the vengeful samurai types in this day and age.”

“To thank you for what Earth has done for our species, I have been put in charge of developing a stable food and water source for you,” he announced, getting to the meat of the meeting. “Admittedly, there are far too many foreign factors to consider, such as the sizeable portion of your population that refuses to eat genetically modified food and drink ‘recycled’ water. Do they not realise all water is naturally reused constantly on your planet?”

“Well, thank you for your work, but we are already making a lot of progress with those things on Earth. But maybe we should ask Miko to design an educational program about those issues?”

“An interesting suggestion, I had not considered it previously. You cannot simply pass on programs and protocols as we can, so perhaps it is more efficient to tackle that issue first.”

“Yeah,” she replied with a nod. “I think my main concern for my planet right now is that we have a lot more than two warring factions.”

“I see,” he replied, and Viviana guessed that he looked pensive.

“Hey, I wasn’t being entirely serious just then!” she corrected, looking to Knockout and Breakdown for support. They just grinned at her and subtly shrugged.

Smokescreen tapped on the doorframe. “Hey, we need to get ready for the remembrance ceremony soon. Can I steal the Doc back for a bit?”

“I’m not sure if Shockwave has finished fanboying over _Doctor Cremaschi_ ,” Knockout replied with a smirk, pronouncing her Italian name perfectly.

Shockwave remained silent, and Viviana guessed he was part confused by the terminology and part annoyed at the bit he did understand. “Well, um, it was nice to meet you. I’d suggest accessing Earth’s internet while researching factors that need to be considered.”

He nodded to her and let Smokescreen steal her away. She sat on his hand as they moved down the corridor. “I don’t care what they say, Shockwave is still a Decepticreep,” Smokescreen commented.

“Aren’t you supposed to be setting a good example for the chil-, er, sparklings?”

“Speaking of good examples, shouldn’t you have dressed up a bit more for this?”

She simply folded her arms and looked away determinedly. _They_ were the one that had interrupted her field work!

* * *

 

_Restored Spaceport, Cybertron_

Breakdown sat on the roof of the spaceport’s main building with Knockout. They had escaped the formalities as quickly as possible, and moved somewhere they could get a good view of what the humans called ‘fireworks’.

He stared at the bright flashes illuminating the sky in various colours. It was so simple, yet so wonderful. He had a datapad open to his painting program, and he sketched quickly with his fingers, trying to capture the shapes and the contrast of colours.

Knockout watched bemusedly, taking a sip of Energon. Breakdown paused to gaze at him, noticing how the colours reflected off his finish. He grinned and started a new page, using his favourite subject.

The red automobile preened at the attention, as usual. Most people couldn’t stand his ego, but Breakdown found it amusing. Besides, the mech did work hard to maintain himself, even if others saw it as a waste of time and Energon.

“You know, the Hall of Records is accepting applications for art displays. Maybe you should show ‘Breakdown Stalks Knockout’,” he teased.

“More like ‘Knockout Enjoys Being Stalked by Breakdown’,” he quipped, roughly planning the colours that would reflect off that shiny red.

The bot shook his head and gazed up at the sky again. A murmur from the crowd came as the final display fired. An Autobot and a Decepticon symbol overlayed each other in the air, surrounded by more bursts of white and gold.

“So,” he began, subspacing the data pad. “Megatron hasn’t approached you lately, has he?”

Breakdown regretted bringing up the topic when the usually confident bot’s whole demeanour deflated. “He – I wouldn’t call it an apology – but he did mention something about ‘respecting my decision,’ so I guess I won’t have to worry about being murdered in my sleep anymore. At least, not by him.”

“I hope things are going to remain political from now on,” Breakdown agreed. “And if you ever need to talk, well, we can find another nice place like this, I’m sure.”

Knockout smiled and glanced down. “Thank you.” He started before checking the message that had just popped up on his HUD. It looked like an automated call out to work. Or maybe Ratchet was just unimaginative. “Looks like we have more sparklings to take care of already. Back to the ward we go.”

* * *

 

_Parliament House, Cybertron_

“Interesting, how the President himself didn’t come,” Megatron stated, staring down the international, now intergalactic, representative. The middle aged man coughed nervously as he glanced up at the assembled politicians.

The Ministers for Health and Communications were present, along with the Prime Minister and Opposition Leader. It was indeed a meeting that the President should be at, given the USA's almost exclusive involvement in this war, but apparently his advisors had deemed space travel too dangerous given the current situation on Earth.

“Megatron,” Orion said with a soft but firm warning tone. “Do not torment our visitor so. This whole affair was organised at the last minute.” He turned back to the man with a kinder voice. “You may retire if you wish, now that the ceremony is over.”

“I-I think I shall,” he replied, getting to his feet a little too quickly. Megatron smirked at his discomfort.

Ratchet nodded and also stood. He transformed so he could deliver the man back to the Embassy.

“Megatron, you need to be more understanding. You’re not a warlord anymore,” Orion reminded.

The con simply rolled his optics. “You cannot let them get away with slights such as this. Your current human ambassadors aren’t going to live forever. We need to plan for a future with the human race as a whole, if you want to maintain contact that is.”

“I still don’t believe that is the correct way of doing it,” Orion protested as he stood. “We will discuss this further tomorrow,” he promised before leaving.

The door slid shut behind him, leaving Soundwave and Megatron to themselves. The ex-warlord sat quietly, considering his old friend’s words.

“Megatron: dissatisfied?”

He clenched his fists, uncomfortable. “Of course.”

“Will we remain like this?”

A longer pause this time. “For now.”

Soundwave shifted slightly, his version of relaxing. He always got tense when Megatron was restless.

“Just keep up with your side projects. Who knows when they shall be required?” He glanced away. “Or… would you prefer to retire?”

“Running Cybertron: invigorating,” he replied almost defensively.

“Very well then, Minister. I can respect your decision.” He put his feet up on the table and folded his arms. “I shall fully embrace the duty of keeping Orion on his toes.”

_/fic_


End file.
